


Storm Crowe

by Thanos_Cradik



Category: One Piece
Genre: Mild Language, Pirates, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-11-16 20:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11260641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thanos_Cradik/pseuds/Thanos_Cradik
Summary: A One Piece SI, inspired by works such as This Bites! and Twelve Red Lines; A young man ventures into the world of freedom and pirates. And Grand Line shenanigans, can't forget those.





	1. Romance Dawn: 1

I’ve read stories where people were taken to other worlds without consent before, of random omnipotent beings yanking people out from their lives and into another just for their amusement. Or stories where they died and were either resurrected or reincarnated. No offense to those people but those last two choices didn’t sounded appealing to me, I prefer living thank you.

 

I, however, was given a book. A book, a chest, and a choice.

 

I had returned to my small two room apartment to find **it** there in my living room, waiting for me. Its face was covered by a black reflective mask concealing its entire head, but the bottom part could move in mimicry of a jaw. Its hands, or claws I suppose, seemed to be a flawless mesh of flesh and a dark metal. The rest of it was obscured to my vision by a… cloak didn’t sound right, but it was the closest analogue I can use… of black, blue  and purple swirling in careful intricate patterns. And it was-

 

“Is-is that my dinner?”

 

It looked up from its spot at my coffee table, and I could see movement under the mask, a pair of golden eyes peeking through the material. “ **Hmm? Yes, I suppose it is. Apologies, but I had gotten here a tad too early and I got hungry.”**

 

Looking into the kitchen, I saw that it had eaten the entire portion of stew that I had set aside for myself for that night and the next day.

 

**“You may want to use less milk next time, too creamy.”**

 

“N-noted.”

 

I was unsure if this was really happening or not. I was pretty sure that the medication I was prescribed never said anything about hallucinations. And I knew that I couldn’t be daydreaming considering the proof ate my fucking stew.

 

Looking back to it, the entity beckoned me to sit next to it on my futon/couch. I’ve read enough stories to know that it was probably better to do as it says no matter how scared I felt, lest I find myself lacking my masculinity.

 

Seating myself next to it, its ‘cloak’ faded to reveal a rather dapper black suit with royal blue accents. **“Now, I have not come here only to eat your food, decent it may be. Tell me…”** I suddenly found it to be sitting across from me, seated in the air. **“What are your views of this world? Of everything? Please give me your truthful views, if you will.”**

 

I had to think about this for a bit, actually. The way that I felt about everything here was…

 

Dissatisfied.

 

I felt dissatisfied with the way things were proceeding, political wise, where it seemed that only those with money and connections in the right places get anywhere. I felt that there was too many people, too much noise around me on a daily basis. How it felt that no matter what people say or how much they get the word out, nothing changes. Or having to spend forty hours a week in a job just to survive day to day surrounded by those people day after day.

 

And most of all, I felt dissatisfied with myself and my lot in life. I hated how it seemed that if I wasn’t nervous or angry at anything, then I felt apathetic about everything. How that eventually I lose interest in things when I become bored. I needed to literally immerse myself into games deep enough in order to feel anything positive (I have actually had to play a few ‘PG’ dating sims just to have a relationship because I couldn’t stand physical intimacy). How I would just get frustrated and felt that I couldn’t lash out at anything or otherwise I felt that I’d get in trouble. And I hated that I needed these… I dunno what kind of medication it is just to keep from going into panic attacks on a fucking regular basis, which reminded me that I needed one now to be honest.

 

I realized that I had began standing and ranting at the end there, shaking from frustration. I dropped back down onto the futon, embarrassed at the amount of whining that I had just done. And the entity was sitting there patiently; it didn’t judge me, it simply listened to what I had to say.

 

After I had said my piece, it gave me a choice; to leave everything behind for a chance at something new and free, or to continue to be bound by stifling rules or confined by social reasoning. To stay in a world that while at peace, wasn’t progressing toward anything good, or to take a chance of a lifetime and go to a new world of freedom.

 

I wasn’t sure of what to think, honestly. Any sane man, woman and anything in between would choose to stay where they would be safe. Where there wasn’t a chance of demons, monsters, dragons, horrible and mangling death awaiting for them. Anyone smart enough to think would definitely choose not to leave everything they were comfortable with.

 

I said as much, and it told me this; **“I would not be here if you did not truly want to just leave it all.”**

 

So after leaving me to make a choice (after taking my flan dammit), I sat there thinking about what I’d be leaving behind until the sun had set. In my apathy I had drifted enough from my family that I hadn’t seen any of them much after… that happened. I didn’t have too many friends in life outside of SpaceBattles. It seemed that I wouldn’t leave all that much behind actually, so I began to actually consider the deal.

 

I had opened the book in curiosity, and thankfully that was not enough to trigger launching my ass across realities, and saw that it was blank. I flipped through back and forth before discovering that this thing was full of infinite blank pages. I even tested it out and flipped through it for half an hour before getting a paper cut and stopping.

 

The only writing in the book was on the front page surprisingly, and finding that I closed it to check out the chest. It was small, wooden, and looked like it came right out of a pirate story. Opening it up I saw…

 

…oh.

 

Well that didn’t leave me much of a choice now, did it?

 

An hour later I had finished closing several accounts across several sites, making sure the money I had made it to the few family I was still connected with, got together a few essentials, and other such things. What I was about to do was essentially erasing myself from this world.

 

The words in the book were this;

 

 _TO YOU WHO HOLDS THIS_ **_BOOK OF ENDLESS TRAVELS_ ** _,_

_WRITE YOUR NAME AND AND YOU SHALL TRAVERSE NEW REALMS_

_AS YOU LEAVE ALL THAT YOU WERE BEHIND._

 

I needed to steel myself to write it, but eventually I wrote my name into the space provided.

 

The second I finished the last letter, my name became unintelligible as the book began to flip through its pages. Soon I noticed that the same was happening to my apartment, pieces of it flipping like pages one section at a time before the last page disappeared to reveal empty space, literal space with stars and galaxies shining out into infinity.

 

Eventually the empty space vanished as new pages flew back into place, revealing a new location; as the last page settled, the Book was gone and I was left standing in a field dotted with a few trees. I could see a very small village just a bit away, so I figured that when I regain feeling again then I could start there.

 

CLONK

 

And then that damn chest hit me in the head.

* * *

 

“I’ve never seen anyone get knocked head over ass from a little box to the head before! You must have some terrible luck, sonny!”

 

“Yep, yeah, very funny. Do I have a concussion or not, doc?”

 

I was luckily close enough to the village that someone had seen me get beaned by the chest. They brought me to the village physician to get looked over, and to rib me for getting beaned in the first place. The doctor himself, for all that the short bald man could be called a doctor, had checked me over for a while after I regained consciousness. What few things I had in a case and the chest were on a table over in the corner.

 

“Well you do have a rather sizable goose egg on yer noggin at the moment, and it did take a while for you to wake back up. But, you do seem all right in any case.”

 

“Joy.”

 

The person who brought me to the doctor, a red headed man built like an ox, stood next to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder, knocking me to the side. “You seem like you’re on the weak side of things, aren’t ya? Even my son’s probably stronger than you and he’s basically a stick!”

 

“OW. Well, I didn’ need to do manual labor growin’ up, so that’d seem obvious to me.”

 

“No, he’s right.” The doctor toddled over with a chart and a pencil. “That lump should have already have receded by quite a bit by now. I also took some tests while you were unconscious, and I can safely conclude that you are weaker than even an ordinary East Blue citizen.”

 

I could only sigh as I dropped my head into my hand. Good news, is that I was in the world of One Piece, a small village of twenty-four (soon to be twenty-five) on Dawn Island. Bad news, I was weaker than _everything_ here and needed that chest if I was going to survive this place.

 

Ah well, at least here I had a chance. If I was sent to the Naruto world, I’d probably die in a random invasion!

 

“Say, boy, you haven’t told us your name yet. Now that you’re awake why don’t you introduce yourself? Or how you popped up in my field, at that.”

 

The big guy did have a point I suppose. “Sure. My name is ……… ?!”

 

The hell? Why can’t I-

 

“You alright there, son?”

Uh… “My name is ……… what the!?” Okay, this was getting weird.

 

Even the man was looking worried. “You okay? Hey, doc, what’s wrong with him?”

 

“Hmm. With his weak constitution and him getting smacked in the head… Boy, are you suffering from any loss of memory?”

 

Wait, does he think I’m suffering from amnesia? Well, it ain’t that. I can remember everything from what I could naturally remember from before to meeting the entity-!

 

_‘WRITE YOUR NAME AND AND YOU SHALL TRAVERSE NEW REALMS_

_AS YOU LEAVE ALL THAT YOU WERE BEHIND.’_

 

Is that what it meant?

 

“I can’t remember my name, or my home. And I know it isn’t amnesia.”

 

“Eh? Then what else could it be _but_ amnesia?”

 

With both men looking at me waiting for an answer, I needed to give them something. So… I did my best Usopp impression. I hid my face in my hand as I took on a serious expression.

 

“It was… the power of a Devil Fruit!”

 

“What!?” The big man jumped up out of his seat in surprise. “But those things are a myth! Gaining power only to lose the ability to swim? There’s no way that can be real!” I knew that devil fruits were considered such here in the Blue Seas, so I could use that to my advantage here.

 

I pointed a finger at him for emphasis. “But it is.” Shifting my finger toward the chest on the table over in its corner. “Just look in there for your proof.”

 

He looked rather apprehensive, but he made his way over to the tiny chest (Tiny Chest Tim! No, that won’t work.) and opened it in a swift motion. The second he did all color slid from his face as he tried to look at the edible abomination. It resembled a small lychee fruit, but it was a light shade of blue and covered in a mass of spirals that just couldn’t seem to stay still.

 

“This is… this is truly one of the cursed things?”

 

The doctor looked at it and his face wrinkled up in thought. “Indeed. I had seen only one other such fruit and that was about near ten years ago over in Fuusha Village when Red-Haired Shanks used it as his base.” Oh? Well that gave me a time frame of when I was at least. The doctor turned toward me with a serious look on his face. “And you say that your name being missing is the result of one such fruit?”

 

Alright, time to lie out of my ass. “Yes, it was. These things can fetch a lot of money on the black market, so the man responsible attacked me when I got this. His devil fruit had allowed him to steal things in his vision, even concepts, but I had already hidden it before running. By the time I had gone back for it he had stolen not only my name, but he stole from me my home! For I found myself so very far from my village in the West Blue, and its name forever gone from my memory!”

 

I had to basically choke myself with false emotion by this point, but from the shocked and saddened expressions on their faces I think it was working. Which was amazing since all of that was complete bullshit. Big man handed me the chest with tears in his eyes.

 

“To have to experience such troubles and lose such important memories, you must keep strong and continue on!” Wait, do I look ready to give up or something? I took out the devil fruit as Big man continued. “If you take that over to the city on the island then I’m sure that you can sell it for enough Beris that you can return to the West Blue with the-”

 

NOM.

 

“WHY WOULD YOU EAT THAT?! NOW NOT ONLY ARE YOU CURSED BUT YOU COULD HAVE MADE A LOT OF MONEY!!!”

 

“That’s also not how you eat a lychee fruit.”

 

I was unable to answer because I was busy CHOKING ON THE TASTE OF [     ]!!!!

 

“Don’t choke, lad! Not after all the trouble I went through to help you!”

 

Eventually I was able to recover from literally choking on the damn thing, and we resumed our places around the doctor’s table.

 

Big man was the first to break the silence. “I suppose I’ve neglected to introduce myself in all this mess. My name is Macintosh, but everyone in the village calls me ‘Big Mac’. I’m the local rancher for the village.”

 

The little doctor introduced himself in a sarcastic manner. “I’m Doc. Guess what I do.”

 

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Kheh kheh kheh, well I’ll need to think of a name for myself but it is definitely a pleasure to meet you two.”

 

“Well, it’s getting damn late.” Doc and Big Mac got up from the table as I followed their example. “I’ll take you over to the tavern. They have an extra bed there so you can rest up for what’s left of the night. We’ll figure out what you can do tomorrow after you get rested up. What do you say?”

 

“Thanks, I’d really appreciate that.”

 

Following Big Mac out of the clinic with my case, I couldn’t help but feel a little lighter. And a little sick to my stomach with nervousness. I still needed a name for myself, after all. I was tempted to name myself after something out here, but all I could see were cattle and trees.

 

 _Hello, my name is COWTREE_ **nope**.

 

Once we were in the village proper, I could see a wall towering over the trees off in the distance.

 

“I guess that’s the city of Goa or whatever, huh?”

 

Big Mac nodded. “Yep, that’s where all the fancy people live; them and the king. You know, we’ve lived here for years and none of us have ever seen the king, or any of them noble folks from their place in the city.”

 

We made it to the tavern when I caught sight of a bird sitting on the tavern’s sign; a little crow that woke up enough to peek at me before falling back asleep with a caw.

 

Well, that wouldn’t be a bad name I suppose.

 

Inside the tavern I could see a couple of people still around at this late hour. Two patrons in a booth to the side and the… taverness? Is that right? She was a young and chubby girl with a very pleasant, if not tired, smile on her face. One patron commented on a nice sudden breeze as we made it to the counter where the girl was located.

 

“Oh, hello there, Big Mac! Fancy seeing you here so late. Who’s yer friend there?”

 

“Hello to you too, Emi. This fellow here needs to spend the night if you don’t mind. He’s had a bad spot of trouble you see.”

 

“Oh that’s no problem!” Turning to me, she said, “You can stay as long as you need to ‘til you get back on yer feet!”

 

“Ah, thanks. That’s really kind of you to do so for me.”

 

Emi laughed and waved it off. “No trouble, a friend of Mac’s is a friend of everyone in this village!”

 

“HA! You here that, son? You’re already one of us now!”

 

Before I could turn to the patron who said that, I saw that Big Mac was raising his hand to clap me on the back again. Remembering what happened last time I started thinking about how much I didn’t want to be smacked again when his hand reached me…

 

And passed right through my back, like it was nothing but air. No ripple, no misty after trail, just thin air.

 

…

 

Ten pairs of eyes had popped out, my own included, as we all processed what had just happened.

 

“... are… are you a ghost, mister?”

 

Fixing my composure, I answered, “Nope. My name is Crowe, and I ate a Devil Fruit!”


	2. Romance Dawn: Goa

I checked my appearance in the mirror in the tavern’s spare room; short cropped black hair, check. Black, baggy eyes, check. Short goatee, check. My face still seems to be the same, so the entity didn’t do anything to me yet. From my case I took out a blue long-sleeved shirt and black jeans to wear for the day. Since I had a choice in coming here, I packed a couple of clothes and a few small important things like my pills and phone(SI standard).

 

Putting on the finishing touches, namely a pair of brown boots and a black flatcap, I made my way downstairs to the tavern proper where there were a few people mingling and eating. Counting today I’ve been here a couple of weeks now, and it seems that the local population has accepted me as one of their own. Waving at a patron as I was leaving the building, I began what was becoming part of my daily routine; squatting on top of the tavern.

 

These weeks were spent exploring and exploiting everything I could about my devil fruit powers that I have dubbed as the Gale-Gale Fruit (Emi wanted to call it the Breeze-Breeze, but that didn’t sound badass enough to me). One such exploit was, being wind and therefor air, sitting in mid-air.

 

Which I did above the tavern with a cup of sweetened green tea in my left hand and my fidget spinner in my right as I looked over this little village with that crow next to me. Like a few other East Blue villages shown in the series, it was two little lines of buildings sitting on a little grassy field with a pleasent view of the sea to the…

 

Looking down I called out to a passerby. “Hey, Gambi! Which direction is that?”

 

The town postman looked to where I was pointing and replied, “That’d be west!”

 

“Okay, thank you!”

 

To the west, with the closer line ‘opened' up for a little path out that way. Some days you can see the local seaking leap out of the water to catch some seagulls.

 

Damn that sucker was huge. Nearly shat myself the first time seeing it.

 

To the south the road led to the city, and the northern one led to the cow field. I think the village was built independently from the rest of Goa since there weren’t too many cows. Anyway, in the center of the village was a well sized square, probably made for parties and special occasions, but most of the time it was where the village children played. It was also right in front of the tavern, so I got a good view of the local anklebiters gathering. Well, most of them were about ten years or so but they were still pretty young.

 

Leaving the fidget spinner to spin around in the air, I dug into my pocket for my phone and headphones(a bit clunky but I couldn’t stand earbuds). Sighing in content, I took in the view as I began to select a song to listen to as I sip my tea. (Maybe _Accentier_?)

 

“Hey! Get your ass down from up there, ya hooligan!”

 

Peering over the phone, I could see the ‘leader’ of the kids glaring at me.

 

Now to the people of this village, Big Mac is the de facto boss around. He makes the calls, helps around town along with the ranch, etc. So while the adults look to Big Mac, the children looked to his son.

 

 _Junior Mac._ The little squirt was almost an exact copy of his old man, except skinnier. (I’m still pissed that the brat’s physically stronger than me. This was proven.)

 

“You lot are early, didn’t have time to start my tea. Isn’t that kinda rude of them, Henry?”

 

“Caw!”

 

Also, I named the crow Henry a week back.

 

“Shut up!” Junior glowered a bit harder at me. “Just get down here, my friends want to play!”

 

Ah, well then. If that was it then-

 

“No.”

 

I had to stifle a chuckle as the children started whining and begging, this was the next step in the routine; teasing the little goobers. See, ever since they found out about my wind powers they wanted to play with it. They needed me to fly their kites, their paper boats (amazingly airborne with the right amount of thrust) _them_ when I managed to get good enough with that. Junior was the same way until he found out I was planning to be a pirate. Now he treats me like a criminal.

…

 

Well, it’s not like he’s wrong about that.

 

One of the patrons inside yelled out, “Boy, jus’ git it over wid’ and play wid’ ‘em! My hangover’s gonna get worse wid’ them kids whinin!”

 

“Then quit drinking ‘til three in the morning!”

 

But he’s right. I better get this over with before I’m hit with a group puppy-eyes attack. Nine pairs of that is damn near lethal.

 

So, drifting back down to the ground, Henry flying off to do his business, I took a sip as I looked over the midget pack. “So what am I doing with you this time? And no flying pies.”

 

I watched as the kids huddled together for a few seconds before turning to me all at once.

 

“We wanna ride the dervishes again!”

 

“Ah, of course you do. That’s all you kids ever want nowadays, even after I showed you those paper planes.”

 

A green ripple began to travel up and down my arm as I raised it enough to be parallel to the ground, before I pulled it back and swept it along the ground to release the ripple into a swirling mass of green wind, which I had dubbed “Green Gale”.

 

Immediately one of the smaller children jumped into it and was carried along by it for a while as the other children began to chase after it. Interacting with the children here had taught me how to be gentle with the wind; I could hold lighter objects with the wind, though heavier things are a bit trickier. Junior kept glaring at me the whole time so I sent another Gale after him as well.

 

Eventually the parents and adults came through and shoo’d them away for lunch, and I began to trek to the south to start the next part of my routine.

 

Going to Goa Kingdom.

* * *

 

For the last couple of days I’ve been taking short trips into the city, mostly Edge Town and the Town Center. Here, I’ve been practising my ‘air-state’, where I’m basically visible air, and  ‘fading’, or becoming straight up wind and air. This lets me become invisible to the naked eye, and is fucking **weird**.

 

In this state, I can still ‘feel’ myself and my state of being, but with no physical body save for the wind that I’ve dissolved into, I can’t really affect the world around me for the most part. I’ve had to use wind and gusts to hold anything. Though this has caused quite the stir when someone saw a floating bag of Beris floating away from a store, which has led to a rumor of a ‘Phantom Thief’ going around stealing shit.

 

I mean, they’re not wrong. Technically I _am_ a pirate now so I need some stock for when I hit the seas. So far I’ve been keeping to the lower class levels of the kingdom and stealing things from asshole shopkeepers and such, having collected a small sum of money and tools (donated from some marines).

 

Today, I was planning on visiting the palace of Goa Kingdom. Course, that plan was to fade to wind (Need to name this soon) and look for an open window. Traveling as wind was interesting. It was like simply walking, except like Wonka’s glass elevator, going in all directions at variable speeds (my limit so far is fifty mph).

 

Passing around the palace I eventually found an open door on a balcony near the top of the palace. After making sure that there wasn’t anyone inside the room, I ‘faded’ back into view, though I kept up my ‘air-state’. The room was an office the definition of ‘decadence’. Lavish curtains were laid on either side of the open windows, there were art pieces and statues dotted along the walls. That desk there was fucking solid gold! That chest sitting on it was- oh wait, that’s just a regular (if fancy) chest.

 

Considering that all the portraits and statues are of the same man, this must be the king of Goa’s study or office. Now, first order of business; opening that chest!

 

Lately I’ve been trying to see if I could lockpick with just wind, but so far no dice. Luckily for me some jackass left the key in the chest, so I just turned it and popped the sucker open.

 

...oh my god.

 

Inside was a sheathed sword, and while the hilt and guard of the sword were normal (if fancy), the sheath itself was fucking gaudy as hell and back. Gold and decorated with gemstones along the entire length- oh god these are diamonds.

 

“Seriously, what the fuck.”

 

The sword seemed like a western style sword; you know, like a knight’s sword rather than the katana’s that seemed more common here. Though, Durandal is in this world and it resembled a rapier. Taking the sword out of the golden disaster (fuck that ugly thing was heavy), I pulled the sword out and WOW! The sword itself was about over half my height (about forty inches from end to end) and the blade itself seemed like it was made from a pearlescent metal, making its color shift from one to another with a simple movement. AND it was lighter than the golden monstrosity it was found in. I gave it a few swings and found that I could use this.

 

Well, I was in need of a weapon.

 

Using the sword to cut down part of a curtain to wrap the sword up (I am not taking that sheath, but I did pop a few diamonds off of it; it was a poorly made sheath), I looked around for anything else of value and found another sword on the wall; a kriegsmesser of a dark-colored steel sitting on a pair of hooks over the fireplace.

 

To those who don’t speak german, that was essentially a long war knife comparable to a sword with a single edge. This one had a slight curve to the blade and was about the same length as the previous one. Taking it down I found that it was heavier than the first sword, and after a few swings I don’t think that-

 

SCHNICK

 

Oops, I just chopped that statue’s head off. This is one very sharp sword. It’s definitely not the sword for me.

 

But I was going to take it anyway, fuck you king. So, wrapping it in the same manner, I made off into the day with my prizes.

 

I floated my way to Edge Town to find an armorer or something, and came across a blacksmith who would make me a couple of sheathes in exchange for the diamonds I took. It’d take until tomorrow to finish both, so I left to continue the routine.

 

Combat.

* * *

 

Flying back over to the village I stopped for a bite to eat (to Emi’s disapproval, wanting me to eat a proper meal) before headed out to the forest behind the village. I’ve been using the local asshole wildlife and the mountain bandits on this side of the island to work on my combat prowess. I might not be cutting things in half with wind, but I could manage to use wind pressure as pure blunt force at the moment.

 

As I touched down on a path running through the forest on the mountain, I heard a few guns cocking off to the side of me. Looking to the side, I saw a few bandits who were probably trying to pass through to a village somewhere on the isla-

 

-oh, nevermind. It was revenge. This was a group of bandits that I had been harassing every time they tried getting near Big Mac’s village (from my understanding, the leader had a vendetta with Big Mac). There was one new person that I hadn’t met before, someone tall, angry and hairy. Bushy head of hair, bushy beard, big build; he resembled a bear more than a man. I did see him on a wanted poster though; Grizzly John, wanted for 75,000 Beris for banditry and other such activities.

 

“So you’re the one beating on my men?” Holy hell, that was one gruff voice.

 

I shrugged, letting myself slip into Air Form (I’m calling it Air Form now). “Probably. I’m sure that I met one or two of these guys before, but I can’t be bothered to remember every asshole that I come across.” It also doesn’t help that I really can’t remember most of these guys. I remember that one though, that guy’s uglier than sin!

 

“What!? You think you can make fun of the Grizzly Bandits and get away from us?!”

 

“Uh…yes, actually.”

 

I’ll be honest, if I hadn’t been in Air Form, the ax that had just passed through my head would have been lethal. Only my medication was keeping my heart rate down so I didn’t seem bothered. And the look of comical surprise on all the bandits’ faces was priceless.

 

“Wha- what are you?”

 

All I did in response was to lift my left up and letting it spin into a swirling mass of green winds; the same happening to my other arm and lower legs. This was what I called ‘Air Doping’, a boosting ability that increased my speed and force. As weak as I was, my punches won’t do much to them. But with this, then the force of the winds shooting from my punches was enough for me to do some damage.

 

Yes, this is a shameless ripoff of Gear Second, but it works.

 

I flew at two bandits to the right, catching them in a lariat, and launching them back into the trees with the force from the gales my arms had turned into. Then, aiming with my left, I fired all the winds from my arm and launched some more bandits away. Grizzly John tried to shoot me in the head with a pistol, but it passed straight through thanks to Air Form. That did shake me up, however.

 

Looking at him with a glare while letting gales pick up around me, he and the last few of his thugs ran away screaming about devils. After watching them leave and making sure they were gone, I collapsed. I would have died twice now. Without Air Form and Logia bullshit, I wouldn’t survive this world, let alone the fucking East Blue!

 

Frustrated, I gathered all the wind I could into a swirling green ball into my hand and thrust it into the nearest tree, blowing out the back of it in a shower of sawdust and chips. I watched the tree collapse before fading and drifting back toward the village.

 

* * *

 

Squatting above the tavern the next morning, I drank my cup of tea when Henry landed below me. Looking down, I saw that it had a piece of straw in its mouth.

 

“So today’s the day, huh?”

 

Drifting back into the open window to the spare room, I gathered up my case (that chest went into it) and headed downstairs to say my goodbyes to Emi and the patrons of the town.

 

They tried to throw a party for me, but I managed to slip out with a Fade. At the end of town though, I ran into Big Mac.

 

“So, you leaving?”

 

“Yep. And I do thank you for the hospitality and everything you all did for me.”

 

“No sweat. Though, you wouldn’t mind telling me the truth now, would ya?”

 

“Huh? How’d you know?”

 

Chuckling, he said, “During your story, you said ‘your home in West Blue’. If you did forget that much, then you wouldn’t have said that.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Nah, your reaction just now, actually.”

 

“Fuck.”

 

“HA!”

 

He tried to clap me again before stopping, probably remembering Air Form was active. “Look son, you must have had a reason for coming here, I understand that. But what about the things you’ve left behind? You don’t have any regrets about that?”

 

“... even if I did, it’s too late to do anything other than go forward.”

 

“I see. Well then, good luck out there. People ain’t as nice as us, no matter what Woop Slap over in Fuusha Village says.”

 

“Kheh kheh heh! No doubt about that.”

 

One last hand shake and I made my way for Goa.

* * *

 

An hour later I had picked up the swords in their new sheaths, a wide wooden one wrapped in leather for the pearlescent one and a black metal one for the kriegsmesser. Next I had to find the stash of loot and find a boat to carry it all. I had but it all in a broken dinghy at the docks of Edge Town, located behind a warehouse.

 

As I exited the blacksmith though I bumped into someone, knocked down to the ground in the process.

 

“Ah, oops. Sorry about that. Here.”

 

I found myself getting picked up by… by…

 

It’s fucking Undyne. Undyne is in Goa Kingdom- in the fucking One Piece world.

 

And she’s wearing a Marine uniform. Shit.

 

“You okay? You’re kinda staring, buddy.”

 

“Oh.” Straightening myself out, I gave her my right hand to shake. “Sorry about that, it’s just that we don’t see fishmen out in the Blues. Well, fish _woman_ I guess.”

 

Snorting, she took my ha- oh fuck that is some grip. “Nah, it’s cool. Right now I’m a special case. Lieutenant Undyne, I’m here on a project to introduce fishmen to the Marines, brokering peace and deals and all that junk.”

 

Well that’s surprising! “Name’s Crowe.”

 

I needed to get to that warehouse, so we ended up walking and talking. Turns out, she was an idea between the Marines and the Fishman Kingdom, fishman marine. Some people didn’t think it’d be a good idea, but couldn’t say so out loud or publically. So, they stick her here in the weakest sea to ‘prove that she’s a good marine’.

 

“Buncha’ bullshit really. How am I supposed to make a name for myself if I go after small-fry pirates!”

 

“Roger was from East Blue. Dragon’s from East Blue.”

 

“W-well, shut up!”

 

Eventually we made it to the warehouse, where the dinghy and my loot were. So I had to disengage here.

 

“Well, I think it’s pretty cool that a fishma-fishwoman’s gonna be a Marine. What kind are you?”

 

“Red-fin piranha,” she said, flashing a fang-filled grin.

 

“Yikes. Anyway, it was good talking to you. And I hope that you make it far into your career!”

 

“Aw, thanks man. And I hope that you- wait, what’s that?”

 

Looking in the direction she was looking in, I saw someone coming out from behind the warehouse. Wait.

 

That’s Nami. That’s Nami and some other girl. That’s Nami and some other girl getting away with-

 

“My loot!”

 

“Your loot?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Hey! Hey Lieutenant! That’s him!”

 

Behind us, a marine was running up, pointing at me. “That’s the guy who stole the King’s swords! And the sea-stone equipment from the Captain’s ship!”

 

Feeling her glare directed at my head, I said, “To be fair, I had expected to be in the Grand Line before something like this.”

 

Only the fact that my phone started blaring _Spear of Justice_ right then, surprising everyone, saved my ass as I immediately ran for the dock. As soon as I was in the air, _spears of water began to shoot at me oh my god I suck at bullet hell!_

 

I was saved even further as the Lord of the Coast erupted out of the sea, stunning everyone behind me. Watching it get the fuck knocked out of it was awesome, and I made it far enough that I was in no danger.

 

Wait… need to go south… okay, now I’m safe. And there’s Henry!

 

“Caw!”

 

And I can see a little raft sailing off with the future Pirate King on it.

 

Smirking, I floated down close enough for him to hear me. “Damn, that was certainly some punch! You must be pretty powerful, yeah?”

 

Surprised, Monkey D Luffy looked up and immediately had stars in his eyes.

 

“WHOA! Are you flying?! That’s so cool!!!"

 

As I landed, I couldn’t help but think.

 

_Cross, Jones, Evan, Cask, Thomas, all of you ahead of me…_

 

_I’m gonna catch up!_


	3. Romance Dawn: Alvida

 

“So you really gave up your name to be here? Would that really be freedom if you have to give up who you are, ya know?”

 

“I suppose, but now I can be whoever I wish to be. Someone who can actually be…  more.”

 

“I guess, but I can’t imagine giving everything up, myself. By the way, pass me some meat.”

 

I’d been drifting on the raft with Luffy for a few hours now, talking with him and listening to Wind Waker music. Henry had perched himself on top of the stick Luffy was using to hold up his sail. It was actually kind of surreal to be here, talking to an anime character. Only in real life. 

 

“Hey, you said you wanted freedom right? Then why follow me? I mean, with your devil fruit you’d be able to go anywhere.”

 

Passing him the last ham from his meat barrel, I gave that some thought. “Maybe, but the idea of going of to unknown places by myself with only Henry here-” 

 

“Caw!”

 

“-really messes with my mind. Plus, that’d mean that I’d have to be around people I didn’t know, and I can’t stand people I don’t know, least of all being around them.”

 

Munching into the ham, Luffy nodded. “Ah, so you rather be with my crew since you know who they are.” Swallowing, he tilted his head in thought. “I’m not sure if I totally get everything you say, but you are a mystery man after all. Just don’t tell me stuff ahead of time, it’s not fun if you know what’s coming.”

 

“For you, maybe. But for me, I prefer looking things up before hand. Because even if I do, I still feel amazement from it when I see it. Hell, it’s amazing that I’m here talking to you right now! Right, Henry?”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Shishishi, if you say so!”

 

With a chuff, I laid down on my side of the raft and let myself relax. I found that relaxing myself was like letting my ‘air’ loose, letting it expand out. It was like I could sense everything around me like this, like bullshit Observation Haki. Even after about a month, I was still learning more about my devil fruit.

 

It was also how I found out that the ocean had just disappeared. 

 

“Eh? Where’d the sea go?”

 

Sitting up, I saw that the water underneath us had just dropped and was now forming that one whirlpool. To be honest, I thought we dodged that when Luffy asked me to blow the ship in a random direction.

 

“Well that’s not good.”

 

As the raft began to drop, I reached out and grabbed Luffy by the arm and flew upwards, Henry following us and perching on Luffy’s hat. I had only managed to save my stuff because they were all still strapped to me (my swords and my traveling case). Luffy’s raft and meat barrel were now spinning into an azure oblivion, however.

 

“Ah, I could have died! Thanks, Crowe.”

 

“N-no problem, Boss.”

 

Carrying someone else was harder than I thought, I had to turn my lower half into gales to stay in place. Damn you, Earth genetics!

 

We ended up staying there, watching the whirlpool exist for a bit before it eventually faded. Soon we were floating above a calm sea once again. 

 

“So what now?”

 

“Um…”

 

_ PHLOOOM! _

 

We were treated to the sight of Luffy’s meat barrel launching out of the water, toward a distant something on the horizon.

 

Wait, that was a couple of ships.

 

“Ah! Follow that barrel!”

 

“...aye aye, Boss.”

 

It just occured to me that I was giving Monkey D Luffy an airlift, chasing after a flying meat barrel, headed toward a pair of ships. One of which was the ship of the Alvida Pirates.

 

“I didn’t expect this kind of shit to happen for at least another few days.”

 

“Caw!”

* * *

 

We made it to the ship that the meat barrel impacted a minute after it did. Carrying my shit and Luffy while trying to catch up to the damn thing was a bit of a challenge, one that left me more than winded.

 

“You’re kinda weak, aren’t ya?”

 

I was too busy catching my breath to answer.

 

The barrel had smashed a hole into Alvida’s ship, the  _ Miss Love Duck _ , into what looked like the food store. Inside there was several pirates, one pink haired wuss, and one guy who got knocked the fuck out by the meat barrel which did not survive impact. 

 

One pirate drew his saber and pointed at us, specifically me. “Hey, are you brats the ones who did this?”

 

Straightening up I said, “I’d have to say that karma did this. I mean, you guys did just ransack another ship. That can’t be very nice, now can it?”

 

Luffy nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound nice at all. I guess he deserved it.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Why you!”

 

One pirate jumped out of the hole with his saber raised, aiming for my head based on his trajectory. I grabbed the sheath for the pearl sword looking toward the second guy coming out of the hole since Luffy just decked the first guy out of the way. Swinging the sheath, I unleashed a blast of air that smashed into Pirate Number Two and launched him into the ice box. The last pirate got smashed into the floor by Luffy, and the wuss- Coby- was standing slack-jawed in the center of the room. Henry took this opportunity to perch on his head. 

 

“Wha- wha- what just happened?!”

 

“We came, we saw, and now my captain is eating your food.”

 

Indeed, Luffy was now in the ice box after tossing out the pirate in there. “Aw, there’s nothing good in here!”

 

That seemed to snap Coby out of it. “Wh-who are you guys?!”

 

Since Luffy was busy digging for more food in the cabinets, I introduced us to the wuss in his stead. “My name is Crowe and this guy is my captain, Monkey D Luffy. And that’s Henry on your head there.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“And right now, we need a boat since ours got eaten by a whirlpool.”

 

Shooing Henry of his head, Coby asked, “A boat? And you thought to look on Iron Mace Alvida’s ship for one?! Wait, how’d you even get on the ship?”

 

“We flew.”

 

“Yo-you flew?”

 

Whatever else I was going to say was interrupted as Luffy shut the cabinet doors.

 

“Welp, I can’t find anything good in here. Might as well go get a boat!”

 

And with that, Luffy marched out the door in search of a boat, Henry perched on his hat.

 

“Ah? AH! W-wait, you can’t go out there! Alvida’ll catch you!”

 

“Who’s that?”

 

And Coby began to follow him out.

 

I meanwhile, sat down to catch my breath. I was still kind of tired from carrying Luffy over here, and I also needed to take a pill now. 

 

Digging into my case for them, I realized that the one guy who was taken out by the barrel was gone. The guy I took out was missing as well.

 

“Now where’d they go?”

* * *

In her cabin, the large pirate known as Iron Mace Alvida was going over the new numbers, adding the counted loot to her stash back on Goat Island.

 

“Ha ha ha! Who’s the most beautiful woman in the seas?”

 

BAM BAM BAM “Capt’n Alvida!”

 

“Wow, that was perfect.” Out loud she yelled, “What the big idea interrupting me? What is it?!”

 

Outside her door one of her men yelled back, “We’ve got intruders!”

 

“WHAT?!” Grabbing her signature weapon, she stomped to the door and slammed it open to reveal two of her subordinates. “What do you mean we have intruders?!”

 

One man’s face looked like it took a cannonball to it with how bruised it was. “Th-they smashed a barrel into the food store and started attacking us!”

 

The other man was covered in splinters. “One of them knocked me into the ice box with just a swing! A-and he had two swords! I think he was that man, the Sword Demon-”

 

“No way! He should still be at that Marine base! And he’d never go anywhere without his partner!”

 

“Then how did he beat me without drawing his sword?”

 

“ENOUGH!” Nearly clubbing both men to shut them up, she leaned closer to their level before asking, “Whoever these intruders are, I want them found immediately. Now, who’s the most gorgeous lady on the ocean?”

 

“You are, Capt’n Alvida!”

 

“Good, now spread the word! Go find these intruders and bring them to me!”

* * *

 

“Dammit, why did I have to listen to you? Now the ship’s crawling with these idiots!”

 

Nami watched as the last pirate dashed around the corner to the forward deck. If not for her partner’s quick thinking, then they’d have been found much sooner.

 

“Because I was quite certain that we’d make it to their base! Or I was before that barrel suddenly came out of nowhere. That was definitely unexpected, sukikiki!”

 

Sighing, Nami wondered how she ended up with this person as a partner. One day she was at a small restaurant planning to hit a group of pirates when this stranger sits down at her table and asks if she could join her on her heists out of nowhere!

 

She had introduced herself as Sukima. She was a small blond young woman dressed in a white blouse with a deep violet vest and dress carrying a sun umbrella of all things. She claimed that she could help her out and so far she had kept her word. Thanks to the mythical Devil Fruit she had eaten, she was able to get into the pirate’s hideout and take all their gold without being caught!

 

Since then, they had gone to the Goa Kingdom, where rumors of a ‘phantom thief’ were already floating around. It was easy getting enough money there, doing those acts of thievery under the phantom’s name. Although their last hit was seen by that one guy, but he seemed like he had troubles of his own at that time. And they were able to get some seastone handcuffs out of it!

 

This time though, she had only planned on stealing from the cruise ship, but Sukima had convinced her to get on the Alvida Pirates’ ship and take it to their base for their hoard. It would have been the last bit she would need too, so it was actually rather easy to convince her.

 

Stepping out of their cover behind the cabins, she said, “We need to get out of here now! Can you take us back to our boat?”

 

Sukima nodded, “Of course, sweetie!” The lady looked younger than Nami was, but claimed that she was a few years older than her. “Now if only I could remember where it is.”

 

“SUKIMA!”

 

“Hey! Who the hell are you two?!”

 

“Shit!”

 

Two pirates had stepped out around the corner, pointing their swords at them.

 

“Are these two the intruders?”

 

“Nah, the others are guys. These girls here though are still intruding themselves, though. We’ll need to take them to Alvida all the same.”

 

Nami snapped together her staff in a heartbeat as she took a couple of steps back. “Sukima, you better hurry up and get us out of here!”

 

“Ah, of course. Hang on-”

 

Before she could activate her powers, though, the wall next to the pirates was blown up by a gust of wind with a cry of “DYNAMIC ENTRY!”, sending the two pirates into the sea. A figure carrying a travel case and two swords stepped out of the hole, wearing a black jacket, forest green shirt and black pants with a black flat cap sitting on his head. His eyes were shadowed by his cap and she could see a scraggly little goatee on his chin.  

 

“Kheh heh heh! I’ve always wanted to do that! So who are-”

 

And she could recognize this man from the day before,  _ when she stole his loot. And he was looking right at them! _

 

“You!”

 

She felt Sukima grab her shoulder before pulling her into one of her rifts. “Come along, we need to go now! We can try again somewhere else!”

 

As the rift closed behind them, she could hear the man swear up a storm.

* * *

 

“#*%& $)^&^ @#%$)*) $^&# &!!!!!”

 

I can’t believe Nami was on the fucking  _ Love Duck _ ! That did not happen in any media! What was she doing here and who the fuck was the other girl?! 

 

Shit, was this going to change anything? 

 

Hearing angry yelling from the front of the ship, I flew up and over the cabin just in time to watch Alvida slam her mace right onto Luffy’s head. For all the good that would do. I settled in the air just as my captain introduced himself as a Rubber Man.

 

“Well I certainly missed quite a bit, eh Boss?”

 

Drawing the eyes of the Alvida Pirates, which then proceeded to pop out even further, I dropped down next to Luffy.

 

“Shishishi, did you get lost? That’d be stupid!”

 

“Sorry, I had to take a break. Your heavy ass took a lot of strength to get you here you know.”

 

“Oh, oops.”

 

“E-ENOUGH!”

 

Apparently, Alvida was at the end of her fuse if her red face was any indication. “I don’t care what kind of man you are, I want you dead! You, and your friends!” Friends? Oh, Coby’s next to me. “Get them! GET THEM!”

 

As several of the pirates began to charge, I stepped forward while drawing the pearl sword. Channeling my arm into wind and sending it all to the blade, I swung at them. 

 

“ Sturmschwert!”

 

The green blade of wind smashed into the crowd and blew them back as Luffy called out his attack.

 

“Gum Gum Whip!”

 

I went into Air Form and let Luffy’s leg pass through me as it stretched and smash into the other pirate still standing. What few still conscious pirates who saw this began to back away from us.

 

“They-they aren’t human!”

 

“His leg stretched! And his body was like air!”

 

“They’re devils! They ate those cursed fruits!”

 

Huh, didn’t think that people would be so scared of that in the East Blue, even Alvida’s scared. Wait, I remember how people treated Robin in her childhood. 

 

“Wha-what do you want?”

 

Huh, Luffy should have already punched Alvida out. This is- is different.

 

“We want a boat! Oh, and for Coby to come with us. He isn’t your cabin boy anymore.”

 

“O-of course, of course. Take it, take him! Anything!”

 

As the few remaining conscious pirates scrambled for a boat, I was trying to figure out what this could mean. Before I could go down that particular rabbit hole, I turned to Luffy to ask, “So where are we going? We can’t just float around aimlessly again.”

 

“Coby here wants to be a Marine, so we’re gonna drop him off at the closest base around. I’m also gonna see if some pirate hunters wanna join the crew.”

 

“Okay, so we’re helping the wu- pirate hunters?” Hunters? As in plural?

 

“Yeah, apparently these two guys called the Sword Demon and the Sword Saint are there as well, and the Demon guy is in their custody. They sound strong, so they might be perfect for the crew!”

 

I could notice that the pirates and Alvida had paled, and Coby was looking at Luffy like he was an idiot.

 

“Are you insane! I heard that they were monsters! There’s no way that you could convince them to join you!”

 

Luffy crossed his arms as the boat arrived and was being lowered. “Well, I haven’t completely decided on it yet, so I’ll need to go see for myself. So come one, we need to take you to the base anyway.”

 

I absently followed Luffy into the boat with Coby as I tried to process just what the fuck was going on. I was not knowledgeable about this. A ring from my phone drew my attention suddenly, considering that there was no way that anyone should be calling me, let alone text.

 

_ *You would have to be foolish to expect that any two worlds are identical. Yes, this one has a few changes to it. Some that have been caused by my own hand, others that will be done by your own hands. _

 

_ *And remember, you are not alone in this. You have with you a companion who would fight the world for you, and others who will join as well. Remember that. _

 

It was only thanks to the pill that I wasn’t hyperventilating right now, and as I put away the phone I had to wonder.

 

What else will change? What would happen in this world now?

 

And what can I do to it?

 

“Hey, Crowe!”

 

“Huh? Yeah, Boss?”

 

“Show Coby your phone thing! I wanna listen to some more music!”

 

“...kheh, aye aye.”

 

Well, whatever happens now, I was in the Next Pirate King’s hands now. As I let  _ The Great Sea  _ play as we drew away from the fucking Love Duck, I made myself relax as I drew a breeze to carry us to our next destination.

 

“AH! Get this crow off of me!”

 

“Caw!”


	4. Romance Dawn: Saint and Demon

Coby couldn't believe his new found luck. After two years of being Alvida's cabin boy, he was finally going to be a Marine! Or at least go enlist! He'd have pinched himself if that crow hadn't already pecked him.

As they neared Yotsuba Island, though, he had noticed the intense look on Luffy's friend's face.

"Uh, Luffy? Your buddy here looks kinda serious."

"Hmm? Oh, he must be thinking! We better leave him alone."

"Huh? What could he possibly be thinking about so intensely?"

A bead of sweat slowly slid down Crowe's forehead, running slowly over a bulging vein and past a bloodshot eye. It wasn't quite as large as the sweatdrop going down the back of Coby's head, but it came pretty close _._

_'I thought that using German for my attack names would work, but grün doesn't sound too impressive. I'll need to think of something else for my theme!'_

* * *

"Ah! We actually made it here! That's pretty amazing!"

"Uh, it's called basic navigation. How'd you two manage to get by without that?"

"By following my gut! And right now it says it's hungry. Let's go find a restaurant, then we'll look for those pirate hunter people!"

"But-"

I patted Coby on the shoulder as Luffy dashed into town. "You ain't gonna change his mind, so just drop it and go with his flow, alright? C'mon Henry."

"Caw!"

It had taken nearly a day to reach this island, Shell Island. Or was it Shell Town? Can't really remember, I need a map. I know that I had gotten myself one weeks ago, so I began digging around for it as Boss Man lead us around the town in search for a place to eat. Does this world have cafes?

By the time we found a place to eat and Luffy was already digging in (I payed in advance with another diamond I had left from Goa) and Henry was picking at my plate I found that map and realized that I was wrong on both accounts; I was wrong on a lot of accounts to be honest.

"Organ Island? What the hell?"

After studying the map for about five minutes Luffy declared, "That was good! So where's the Marine base? That Zoro guy should be there, right?"

SHUFFLE SCRAPE SHUFFLE

Looking up from the map I was treated to the sight of everyone else in the establishment pressed up against the far wall in fear. "Well, that seems like an extreme reaction."

Coby turned to Luffy in an attempt to dissuade him. "Look, doesn't this prove that Zoro's a bad guy? You've just gotta reconsider this!"

Luffy crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. "It'll be my decision once I see him. Him and his partner." Turning to me he asked, "So where's the Marine base?"

As the people return to their places I replied, "It's that big ass building on top of the damn island. When you're ready we'll be on our way. Even if you can't convince these hunters, we can drop off Coby at the base."

"Ah, that's right!" Coby got up quickly from the table, knocking his knee on the edge in the process. "OW! I need to go meet the man in charge of the base, Captain Morgan!"

_SHUFFLE SCRAPE SHUFFLE_

This time people went flying in their rush to the other side.

"Well that can't bode well."

"Caw!"

* * *

"Why would they react that way to Morgan's name? I can understand them reacting to Zoro's, but…"

Luffy stretched as he led us around the town, toward the base's entrance. "Maybe he's a bad Marine? Gramps would always complain about a few bad eggs under his command a couple of times whenever he visited me."

Coby stopped in the street. "Your gramps? Wait, but that can't be true, can it? Marines are supposed to help people!"

"Caw!"

Luffy and Coby looked toward where Henry was pointing from his perch on my hat, at the colossal building surrounded by a high wooden fence. I immediately began to look down the street, where I guessed that Zoro was held in the yard behind the fence. I instead found a woman.

When we got closer, I could recognize who she was not from her short black hair, or her cloths; a white shirt, red sleeveless haori and black pants that both ended below her knees held up by a red belt. I recognized her by the sword by her side, the sword that Zoro would have carried with him all the way into the New World.

Wado Ichimonji, one of the twenty-one Great Graded swords in the world.  **Kuina's**  sword.

And here she was, sitting by the fence in a meditative state. Or asleep, I can't tell. There was no way that Zoro would have let anyone else carry that sword willingly. Though if that Hemp-head brat had taken his swords in canon, then he may have given it to her for safekeeping. Though I doubt that was the case, this woman looked too much like Tashigi for comfort. And considering who _she_ was supposed to look like…

"Eh? Who's this?"

I stopped Luffy from poking her. "I think this might be the Sword Saint we heard about."

Kuina(?) opened an eye to peek at us. "Oh? That name really did follow me around, then. I suppose that Zoro's little moniker stuck as well?"

"Yep. I wanted to see the Sword Demon and the Sword Saint for myself. So where's this Zoro guy?"

As Luffy and Coby began searching for Zoro, I continued to study this woman. As she stood up, she moved with a flawless grace that no one on Earth could ever hope to match. Even standing still, it was like watching a… what was the most graceful animal I could think of, a crane? Or perhaps a tiger. Either way, I could have no doubt that this was the real Kuina.

And she was staring back at me. Whoops.

"Caw!"

Before she could say anything though, I heard Boss Man cry out behind me, "Ah! That's gotta be Zoro! Right?"

"AHH! It's him! The Sword Demon Zoro!"

Floating up to peek over the fence, I could see a young man strapped to a pole in the center of the base's yard. Black bandana, white shirt with, green haramaki and black pants; the only addition was a sleeveless green haori that reached down to his knees.

Wait, red and green. Ha, I get it!

Anyway. Where Kuina exuded grace, Zoro exuded power. Even as tired as he was right now from nine days (ten?) I could practically see the fierce power from this man. Roronoa Zoro.

Wait, if Kuina still has Wado, then what sword does Zoro have?

Floating back down, I left Luffy to try and convince him to join the crew. I noticed that Kuina was still staring at me, as though me floating hadn't surprised her.

"You have terrible posture for a swordsman."

What?

She pointed to the two swords hanging on my hip. "You carry those swords with you, but I have trouble believing that you can effectively use them with your posture. That slouch alone is just painful to look at, honestly."

"Hey-"

"Excuse me."

Oh, it's little Rika with a ladder. Stepping out of the way so that she could reach the fence, I turned back to Kuina.

"First of all, leave my posture alone! It ain't done nothing to you! And secondly I only had these swords for a few days so I guess I need to concede to that point, but still-!"

"One sword looks too heavy for you to use, so why do you even have it?"

Patting the kriegsmesser I said, "I already know that I can't use this one right. I was actually thinking about giving this one away, to be honest."

An eyebrow inched upward, her curiosity piqued. "Is that so?"

Before I could say anything, I was interrupted. "Bleuch! You put too much sugar into these! And you're supposed to use salt, anyway!"

Floating back up, I caught a glimpse of that turd in a suit Helmeppo? Yeah, Helmeppo picking on little Rika, making the poor girl cry as he stomped on her riceballs.

"What a dick."

Kuina hauled herself up beside me. "Believe me, this is the least that the pig of a boy has done lately."

Back down on the ground I would have continued my conversation when I remember what was about to happen.

Rika screamed as she was thrown over the fence. I saw Luffy ready to catch her but my arm was already out, releasing a gale that surrounded the falling girl. As she was lowered down to the ground, I saw Luffy give me a nod before jumping over the fence.

I walked over to where I had let Rika down before crouching down to her level. "Hey, you okay?"

Getting a nod and a blush in return, I patted her on the head before standing back up just in time to hear some choking from over the fence. I turned to Coby and saw a look of surprise on his face.

"He-he ate those riceballs. They were all squished into the dirt but he still ate them for her. He can't be a bad guy."

Luffy jumped back over the fence and made his way over to us. Rika specifically, so I back away so he could tell her what happened. I could hear Kuina behind me comment, "He always did go out of his way for little kids."

After that we were invited by Rika to her mother's restaurant. There she told us about how Zoro defended her from Helmeppo's 'pet' wild wolf and the one month deal they had made. And she told us about Captain Morgan's blatant extortion and tyranny over the island.

Coby slammed his fists into the table we were seated at. "How can they get away with this?! This isn't how the Marines are supposed to act!"

"The people are scared." I pointed out the window toward the base. "Morgan is the person who brought down Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirate, after all. His name carries quite a bit of weight in East Blue, and with him being in charge of the island's base it's his word against anyone that tries to complain. Or outright execution, as it were."

"And Helmeppo has been riding on his father's coattails for years. People are afraid of upsetting the spoiled brat in case he tells his father on them," Kuina added with disgust. "He's gotten away with just about anything on the island."

"So, these guys are big jerks, then."

"Yes, Boss, yes they are."

"Caw!"

As our conversation took a break, a commotion began to rise outside.

"-aren't you grovelling? Do you want me to tell my daddy about this?"

Luffy and Coby, the closest ones to the window, took a look.

"Hey, it's that Helmet-head. What's he doing here?"

I had to peer around Luffy's ass to look out the window, but I already knew what was going to happen.

"You don't want to wind up like that Zoro, do you? I'll be having him executed tomorrow as an example, so you all better take this lesson to heart!"

"He's what?!"

"That bastard."

Tiger. Kuina is definitely a tiger. And there goes Luffy rushing out the bar.

"HEY!"

Standing up from the table, I motioned to Coby to follow. "We better get going, it looks like Boss Man just made his decision. C'mon, Henry."

"Caw!"

With the wimp and Kuina trailing behind me, I exited the bar just in time to see Luffy deck Helmeppo in the face.

"You brute! How dare you strike me! I'm telling my daddy on you!"

I had to cringe at that. How old was this git?

"Like I care! I'll kick his ass too!"

He'll kick yer dog's ass! He'll kick his own- ah dammit, I need to watch my medication for a while, I think I took too much today.

As Helmeppo was led away and the civilians all hid, I made my way to my Captain. "So. Orders, Boss?"

"We're going back to the base. I want to speak with Zoro again."

* * *

Jumping back over the base's fence, Luffy rushed back over to Zoro for a quick chat. Coby and Kuina joined us as Henry perched himself on Zoro's arm.

"Are you seriously holding my swords hostage?!"

"Yep. So do we have a deal?"

"Are you crazy?! I already said- wait, get back here! Kuina, stop him!"

Luffy ran back over to me, a grin on his face. "Hey, I'm gonna go find Zoro's swords so he'll join us."

"I didn't agree to this!"

I gave him a thumbs up. "Sweet. I'll go loot the base, I need to restock since my last stash was stolen." I'll get my revenge, Nami. I'll get my revenge.

"Ah, good thinking! You go find meat, I'll go find swords!"

"Are you two insane?!"

"Yes, why?"

I couldn't suppress a grin as I Faded into wind at Kuina's shocked face, or Zoro's incredulous stare.

* * *

Coby watched as Luffy ran around the corner and Crowe faded out of view. He did count the two as friends, he really did, but he just couldn't follow their train of thought sometimes.

"Your friends are quite odd, kid."

"Yeah. Oh, right! We need to release Zoro!"

That drew Zoro's attention. "Wait, what do you mean release me? That brat and I had a deal."

Kuina strode up to the post drawing Wado and cutting the ropes holding Zoro in one swing. "He lied, said so himself before that kid punched him."

He waved away the crow before rubbing his arms, anger written on his face. "Damn. I figured some people would be capable of keeping their word." And then the crow landed on his head.

"Buzz off!"

"Caw!"

* * *

Leaving the kitchen with a sack of cooked meat, their lunch probably, I checked the other bag that I had picked up. Inside were several pairs of seastone cuffs and keys, along with a couple of pistols, bullets and gunpowder packets. It was a shame that they didn't have any seastone bullets, but then again this is the East Blue. The number of Devil Fruit users was probably lower than the other seas.

Now there was just one thing left for me to do. I Faded out of view and flew through the hall with my loot in hand.

Hmm. Wonder how Luffy's doing.

* * *

"LET GO OF ME THIS INSTANT!"

"Shut up and just tell me where your room is!"

* * *

I found what I was looking for on the top fucking floor. Of course the jackass would have his office on the top floor.

Blowing open the doors to Captain Morgan's office, I strutted through the bigass room until I sat down in Morgan's big comfy chair of doom. Fucking hell this thing was big.

Setting down my loot, there was one thing I had to do. Covering my jaw, I said  _"I Am Great_ -hurk! Oh god I feel sick!"

I was in physical pain for having done that. I feel disgusted. I need to fix this.

So I began rummaging through the asshole's desk.

"Junk. Junk. Letter of inspection. Junk. Bill. Piss poor self portrait. Junk. Ooh! A bottle!"

Holding the bottle up, I saw that it was a bottle of Chartreuse. "Oh neat! Isn't this supposed to be a good wine or something?"

Kheh heh, chartreuse, kinda like…

Oh. That could work.

"Gyarg!"

I spun the chair around toward the window behind me. "The hell? Oh shit, Coby!"

Looking out the window down toward the yard, Coby was on his back, most likely having been shot like in the story. The two swordspeople were surrounded by Marines already, the ones in front had their guns trained onto them. Shit, I didn't think that they'd already be down there! Grabbing my loot, I dropped it out the window so that it could slide down the sloped surface of the building.

Drawing the pearl sword, I entered Air Form as I dropped out the window. Channeling wind into my weapon, I unleashed it at the Marines in front of Kuina as Luffy landed in front of Zoro before they all fired.

Sorry, Marona.

"Chartreuse Gale!"

A wild blast of green wind slammed into the bullets from my group and redirected them to the side as Luffy bounced his own barrage right back at his group.

"That sword! Is that-"

Before Kuina could continue, Axe-Hand Morgan himself appeared- fucking hell this man was tall! That face, there were screws in his jaw! And that arm-eurgh!

"So you two ate Devil Fruits then. Fine then. Men! If bullets won't work then use your swords! Cut down these traitors!"

"WAIT!"

I had my hand in the air as everyone stopped to stare at me, giving Luffy some time to give Zoro- why does he have a case full of swords?

Morgan had a mean glare, but it wouldn't be the worst I'll experience here. "What do you want?"

"Did that hurt when they put that stuff in ya?" I pointed to his jaw and his axe-hand. Seriously, that thing was poking out past his elbow without breaking skin. Ew!

Oh look, a vein was popping out of his head! "CHARGE!"

Two groups of Marines drew their swords and rushed at us, though I didn't worry much about that. One group got halted by Zoro using three swords, so that was still familiar, but I didn't recognize the sword in his mouth. The two burner swords were in poor condition, as well.

"Santoryu: Oni GIRI!" Watching the familiar technique was amazing, especially the power behind it. If Kuina was a tiger, then Zoro was a dragon lunging. The burner swords broke however, and he discarded them in favor of two more from the case.

Kuina, on the other hand, had passed by me a bit ago and was striking down her opponents with quick succession with precise strokes and slashes.

"Ittoryu: Usagi no Odori!"

Rabbit something, I didn't know what odori translated to. I didn't have much time to guess either as a sword swished through my stomach. Turning around, I spun some wind into my left hand and pointed it in that Marine's face.

"Chartreuse Blast!"

The force from the exploding ball of wind knocked the poor mook into another group behind him.

And everyone else?

"Gum-Gum Whip!"

They all got knocked the fuck down.

I remembered what happens next in the story, and I wanted to prevent that from order from even being uttered. As soon as I saw Morgan's jaw move I flew right in his face with the kriegsmesser drawn. I needed it's heavier weight against the asshole considering he was five times my size.

He raised his axe-hand to block it, which I had expected. I had also expected to be thrown back, though that didn't do anything to me due to Air Form.

What I did  _not_  expect was the crack in his axe where the kriegsmesser had been caught! What kind of sword did I pick up?!

"What?! Why you little-"

"Hey, Luffy! Tag in!"

Clapping his hand as he charged Morgan, I noticed that the Marines were still fighting, though with less morale.

I also noticed that Kuina and Zoro were talking.

"Your form got sloppy. If you had just ignored that stupid deal then you wouldn't have fallen behind."

"Hey! My form is just fine! You only say that because you had nine extra days to train, so of course you'd end up better!"

Kicking a marine upside the head out of the way, I slid up to Zoro. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask, but what sword is that? I can recognize Wado there, but…"

Zoro spared a before sheathing his burner swords as he took the blade from his mouth. "This is Yamaoroshi, a Skillful Grade sword. I got it from this one bounty some time ago named Billy or some shit. Guy was a jackass, so leaving this one with him would have been shameful." Huh. Never heard of it, was it filler?

"Plus, he needed a sword who could stand up to Wado Ichimonji here since he goes through weak swords by the dozen."

"Dammit, Kuina! That is NOT the reason why and you know it!"

Chuckling, Kuina then turned to me. "Still, to see someone with so little skill using those swords you have…"

That surprised me. "Huh? These are special?"

Unfortunately, Helmeppo chose that moment to pop up with Coby and a gun in his hands.

"Hold it!"

SMACK

"I SAID HOLD IT!"

As Morgan went down, Luffy turned to pay attention to the brat as he aimed the pistol at Coby's head.

"I-if you don't all surrender, then I'll shoot! I'll really do it! So stop fighting!"

Luffy was silent for a second before Coby spoke out. "Don't stop! I'm-I'm not afraid to die! So keep fighting, Luffy!"

He tilted his head before giving us a quick glance. "Hmm. Nah, I'll stop."

"EHH?!"

Morgan suddenly towered over Luffy with his axe raised high. He never finished his attack as all three of us made our move; me aiming at Helmeppo and Zoro and Kuina charged Morgan.

"Chartreuse Hammer!"

**"Shintoryu: Akuma no Kōshin!"**

The blast of wind I shot slammed into Helmeppo's face, releasing Coby from his grasp and knocking him out cold.

Zoro and Kuina, on the other hand, disappeared as they dashed around Morgan's body in a dual blur. Gashes and blood appeared all over his body before finally his metal jaw cracked and his axe broke. The two reappeared in front of him, their backs to the torn up titan, as they sheathed their swords and the man fell back in a massive thud.

Luffy turned to me with stars in his eyes. "They are definitely joining the crew."

I just numbly nodded as the Marines began cheering at Morgan's defeat. And there was Henry looking proud of himself.

"What the hell did  _you_  do during all that?"

"Caw!"

* * *

As in the story, we had reconvened at Rika's mother's bar to celebrate. I had to go back for my loot, the meat was a bit banged up but the guns and bullets were fine. Needed to repack the gunpowder, though.

"Ah, I feel human again. I hadn't eaten like this in a while."

"Eh? That's all you're gonna eat?"

"What do you mean that's- what the hell?!"

Kheh heh heh. I couldn't help but laugh at Luffy and Zoro's antics a table away. I meanwhile had taken a table with Kuina to ask about my swords.

"So you were saying something about these swords before Hepmep interrupted us?"

Chuckling at the name I had given the brat, she motioned toward the swords I placed on the table. "These swords are definitely unique." Picking up the pearl sword, she said, "This is Joyeuse, the sword of a king from the North Blue. A sword like this would be on par with a sword of a Low Grade. It could be used to blind the enemy, though."

Putting it down she then motioned to the kriegsmesser. "This one is Almace. It's a Kokuto..." at my blank look, Kuina shook her head slightly and resumed her explanation, "...a Black Blade that was made in West Blue. Its last wielder was known to be able to cut through metal with ease, though she was a very skilled warrior. That you cracked Morgan's axe with it tells of how strong it is, however." Setting it down, she looked me straight in the eyes. "How did someone with no skill ever get their hands on these two swords?"

"I stole them from the King of Goa."

"You what?"

"The man ordered the burning of Gray Terminal, and Almace here was hanging on a wall! I did these swords a favor!"

"Caw!"

She continued to stare at me even when the Marines came in to kick us off the island.

As we pirates made to leave the establishment, the new leader of the base, Ripper I think, spotted Coby.

"You there, weren't you affiliated with these pirates?"

I left to take our stuff down to the pier. I wasn't really up to seeing the kid get rekted by Luffy, even if it was for his own good. Zoro led me down to their boat.

Or to the remains of their boat. It looked like Hepmep was a vindictive little shit.

"That damn brat. If we hadn't already kicked his ass then I'd go do it again!"

"Eh, we'll just take that one. It's big enough for the four of us, right?"

"Huh, might be a little tight but I think we could make it work."

Henry had already claimed the mast for himself, anyway. Dumping our stuff into the new boat, Luffy and Kuina showed up. Kuina walked up right to me, a finger pointed right in my face.

"I've decided. You need lessons on using a sword, so I'll be teaching you on our voyages."

Behind me I heard, "Oh you poor bastard."

"Caw!"

"You'll begin immediately once we set sail."

"Wait, how the hell am I supposed to do that on the boat? Can't we wait till we reach the next island?"

"Can't you float in air?"

… damn you, Gale-Gale fruit, you've betrayed me!

"Trust me, I've taught several kids younger than you before. You'll be a pro in no time!"

"You know that I'm older than you, right?"

"Look, as long as you have those swords, I'm going to make sure that you are competent enough to use them."

On the boat, Luffy called out, "Hey, hurry up! I wanna get going now!"

Zoro chimed in as well. "Let's go, Wind Boy!"

Wind Boy- "I'm older than you, Sword Brat!"

"What?!"

"Shishishi, this crew is going to be awesome!"

"If you say so, Captain."

"Caw!"

And as we left with Coby and the Marines saluting us, I was thinking about how things were already different with Kuina joining us.

"Hey, Wind Boy. Get in the air, your training starts now."

"Don't call me that!"

"Caw!"

"You as well, Henry!"

I'm not sure if I like this difference anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Editor's Note: Caw!


	5. Romance Dawn: Thief and Gap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is formatting so weird?

"This thing is so strange, how can it play music like a band? Your world must really be something else!"

  
  
While I was drifting alongside the boat going through sword katas (overhead swings for ten fucking minutes) Kuina was fiddling around with my phone as it blasted out Flogging Molly (stay out of my gallery, woman!). Zoro was sitting at the front of our little boat and Luffy was dangling off the side wanting a fish to eat. Henry, the smug little shit, was watching me workout from his perch on the mast.

  
Ever since Luffy let slip that I had the phone Kuina had asked some questions about my world. Some that I could answer, some that I could not. Like those about the story.

  
"So you really can't tell us which of us becomes the strongest?"

  
I was focused swinging Almace over my head over and over again, but I still answered, "Nope."

  
Luffy dragged himself back up before he could fall over. "Besides, it isn't much fun if you know ahead of time!"

  
"I don't know," Zoro said from his spot, "I think that it would just spurn the other to work harder."

 

"Not like it would matter, Kuina wasn't in the story."

 

 … wait, did I say that out loud?

  
"What?!"

  
SHIT! Why did I say that?! Even Henry was giving me a look that said "What the fuck?!"

  
The girl herself was standing in the boat, looking at me with an angry stare. "What do you mean I'm not in the story?!"

  
Shitshitshit say something! "...a-after your duel with Zoro, you fell down the stairs looking for a sharpening stone. You-you end up... _getting an injury that prevented you from becoming a swordswoman ever again!"_ I couldn’t use the 4kids version either, that one’s just plain worse! Henry was giving me a weird look, for some reason.

  
"Prevented me from being-!" Kuina slowly lowered herself down in her seat, a devastated look in her eyes. Zoro was sitting up straight with an unreadable look in his own eyes, probably thinking that it was his fault that happened. Could have happen, it didn’t. And Luffy was giving me a look that said _'Make this better, hurry!'_

  
"And you get fat!"

 

Wait, what?

  
"WHAT?! I GET FAT?! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!"

  
Now Kuina was furious for a new reason. "That damn author! How can he do that to me?! Make me fat and useless, I'm gonna kick his damn ass!"

  
Zoro had fallen over laughing at that mental image, drawing the Tiger's ire. "What are you laughing at?! It’d have been your fault because of that duel! Get over here!"  


And now she was trying to drown the man. I looked toward Luffy and shrugged; at least she wasn't depressed anymore?  


"Drown bastard, drown!"

  
"Ah, wait! Don't do that! I need him alive for my crew!"

  
I floated back away a bit to let this settle down. Henry had taken a seat on my shoulder, giving me the look that said he knew the truth somehow.

  
"Like I was going to tell her that she was supposed to die that night. That would just ruin both her's _and_ Zoro's life! This is a better alternative."

  
"Caw."

  
"How the fuck would you know?!"

  
Becoming silent, Henry returned to his perch, leaving me to trail behind the boat. I swung Almace back over my head, getting back into my exercises.

  
"Besides, it doesn’t matter now. They don't need to know that."

 

_ <SC> _

 

As punishment, Zoro had to row the boat without any aid from anyone or the wind. Kuina had taken his earlier spot and was meditating, and I had moved on to my next exercise; sitting in Seiza position while trailing the boat. Kuina swore that it was supposed to help my posture, but I’m pretty sure that was a punishment as well.

 

“My legs are aching.”

 

“Suck it up, Wind Boy.”

 

Great, and now that name is stuck with me. “No respect for the first mate.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Shut up, Henry!”

 

“Eh, I don’t see why you’re complaining. This is easy!”

 

For some reason, Luffy had decided to copy me in the Seiza position.

 

“That’s because your body is stretchy and bendy, while mine is stiff.”

 

“Oh yeah, I forgot!”

 

Groaning, I tilted back until I was on my back in mid air sitting in Seiza while trailing the boat. Now with Henry sitting on my chest.

 

“Caw!”

 

Closing my eyes, I began to worry about whether or not we’d go to Orange Town or not. We needed to go there to pick up Nami, but she was with that other girl with the portal. She might not even be there! And if we aren’t there, then Buggy will keep terrorising the town! Ah fuck, I don’t want things to veer off course yet. How did Luffy even get there in the first place?

 

Ah, that’s right! Bird.

 

Opening my eyes, I looked straight up and saw it.

 

“There’s a bird.”

 

Everyone looked up and saw it as well. Luffy was already drooling. “Ah! It looks pretty big, too! Let’s catch it and cook it!”

 

“I could go for some poultry,” Zoro grunted out.

 

Kuina looked apprehensive at that, though. “Wait, how are we going to cook it? We don’t have a grill or anything!”

 

“I have a lighter.” I held a silver lighter with _‘Ripper’_ engraved on it up for emphasis.

 

“Where did you- did you take that from the Marines?!”

 

“No, Henry did.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Then it’s settled! I’ll go get it then!”

 

We were all treated to the sight of Luffy stretching his arms straight up into the air before retracting them, catching the top of the mast and launching himself up toward the bird.

 

…

 

“Ah, it caught him.”

 

_ <SC> _

 

“ROW FASTER!”

 

“I’M ROWING AS FAST AS I CAN, KUINA! JUST KEEP AN EYE ON THAT BIRD!”

 

That was what I heard as I started blasting out over the water with Henry on my tail. Flying over the sea like this was amazing, watching the waves speeding past me as I left a wake in my persuit. I’ll have to do this again when I’m not worried that Big Bird up there might drop my anchor of an Captain.

 

After passing some floundering Buggy pirates who I may or may not have booted upside the head, I followed the bird to what I assume to be Organ Island (ergh, that name). And I saw Orange Town. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, showing off all the work that Mayor Boodle had put into this place. From a single house to the sprawling town it was now.

 

But seeing it this empty, was another thing entirely. No one in the streets, in their homes, in the town. And the swathes of devastated property… it was disheartening.

 

BOOOM!!!

 

Ah, the  bird exploded. Better see where Luffy landed, then.

 

_ <SC> _

 

Nami couldn’t believe the sheer luck she was having today. First Sukima ditched her saying some nonsense about wanting to go see a dog, then she got caught stealing a map to the Grand Line from the Buggy Pirates and was now getting chased!

 

_Then_ just when she was wishing for a way out of this mess, some hapless dope fell out of the sky right in front of her! Talk about turning your luck around!

 

“Ah, I’m alive. That’s good.”

 

Thinking quickly she called out, “Hey, Boss! Thank goodness you’re here!”

 

Catching the boy’s attention, she rushed passed him as she cried, “You’ve got to help me, Boss! These mean men are after me!”

 

“Eh? You aren’t Crowe, why are you calling me-”

 

“Hey, you’re her boss? Come over here!”

 

Nami slipped into the nearest alley, leaving the boy to take the blame. It might be underhanded, but if it was gonna be him or her then it was gonna be-

 

“Hey, don’t touch my hat!” TWANG BAMF BOMF BOOM!

 

-eh?

 

Confused, Nami stuck her head back out of the alley, and jumped in shock. All of the pirates were all beaten up and unconscious, while the boy was putting his hat back on!

 

“Jerk, he could have tore up my hat!”

 

“What the-”

 

“Well! You seem like you’re having fun!”

 

“GAH!!!”

 

Jumping out of the alley, Nami turned around and saw Sukima leaning out of one of her portals, her head propped up with a hand. And that infuriating squinty grin on her face.

 

“Where were you?! I could have died there!”

 

Sukima, eyes closed and that grin getting bigger, simply waved the accusation away. “I said you’d be fine! After all, the man I’ve been looking for just saved you, didn’t he?”

 

“Wait, you don’t mean this kid, do you?” Pointing her thumb to the boy in the straw hat who was now looking in their direction.

 

“Hey! Why did you call me boss? Also your friend is in a hole.”

 

Sighing, Nami turned to reply. “Sorry about that, but I needed someone who could beat those pirates up and you showed up just in time. And yes, my friend here is indeed in a hole.”

 

Nodding, Luffy crossed his arms in understanding. “Ah, I see. So why did they chase you?”

 

“Probably because she stole something from them. Right, thief?”

 

Shocked, she looked up to see that man from Alvida’s ship _floating in midair,_ a crow perched on his shoulder _._ Her mind began to race for a solution on getting out of this mess considering that this guy was obviously after her!

 

“Oh hey Crowe! Where are the others?”

 

The man dropped down to the ground, his eyes trained on her. “They’ll be here shortly, I just flew ahead of them to make sure you didn’t fall into the sea.”

 

“Ah, that’s a smart idea! Good thinking.”

 

Nervously, she glanced between the two men. “You uh, know each other?”

 

“Well yeah. He’s my first mate!”

 

“Ah, I see. I just have to be going now.”

 

Unfortunately her plans for escape were foiled as Sukima placed a hand on her shoulder, and wouldn’t let go.

 

“Oh my! If I knew that you were with Luffy then we wouldn’t have run away last time!”

 

“What?!”

 

The man and the bird stared long and hard at Sukima for a few seconds before finally speaking.

 

“Boss?”

 

“Yeah, Crowe?”

 

**_“Why is Yukari Yakumo in Orange Town?!”_ **

 

“CAW!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

“Sukikiki! It’s nice to have someone finally acknowledge who I was basing my new persona on! I was actually afraid that I was the only person here who would ever know the greatness of the Gap Youkai!”

 

“Ah! So you're another mystery person like Crowe is! Nice to meet ya!”

 

“Yes. How lovely.”

 

“Caw.”

 

We had settled around the dining table in an empty house after I was assured that the new girl was NOT the Master of Gensokyo herself, but another former resident of Earth like myself. It took a lot of convincing, on account of how Henry and I tried to escape by ocean. I had taken a pill since then so I was calming down quickly.

 

Nami was taking this as well as I was. “So let me get this straight; your plan this whole time was to get me onto this…   _pirate crew_ and become their navigator.”

 

I raised a finger to my chin in thought. “Well we do need one. Even with Kuina, between Zoro and Boss Man here we’d end up lost in the West Blue somehow.”

 

“Shishishi, yeah that’s true.”

 

A look of genuine surprise flashed on Sukima’s face. “Oh? Kuina’s Alive? Oh that’s simply amazing! How did you manage to make that happen?”

 

“EH? ‘ALIVE’? You mean she was gonna die?! Crowe, you said she just gets hurt and fat!”

 

“I was not about to tell her that! And it doesn’t matter now, she’s on the crew and that’s that!”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Enough!” Nami slammed her hands onto the table. “WHY is it so important that I join their crew? They’re pirates! You know how much I hate them!”

 

Sukima nodded, her grin noticeably smaller. “Because they can help you, sweetie.”

 

Before Nami could glare a searing hole through her partner’s head, Luffy asked, “What could we help her with?”

 

Both of them were silent for a bit before the redhead answered. “I plan to buy a village, but the cost is insanely high. It’s taken me nearly eight years to make as much as I have so far, and Sukima here has helped tremendously recently. But right now, we’ve hit a snag. A pirate by the name of Buggy the Clown took over this place, and the treasure he has can cover the last little bit I need and then some.”

 

And then some? I shared a look with Sukima, and she nodded in confirmation at my unspoken question. There would be enough money to leave for the town after we leave so they could rebuild.

 

“However, I underestimated how well his crew would have guarded the storehouse their treasure is in, and all I managed to get so far was this map.” She waved it in the air for emphasis. “As much as I hate to say it, I’ll need your help in getting it. If you guys can help me out, then _maybe_ I could consider being your navigator for a while.”

 

Luffy sat there and thought about it for all of one second before yelling out, “Deal! Yes, we got a navigator! Whoo hoo!”

 

“Maybe! I said MAYBE I’d be your navigator! Did you not hear that part.”

 

I stepped around the table to clap her on the shoulder for comfort. “Sorry, but with Boss’s selective hearing now you’re kinda stuck with us. Welcome to the Straw Hats, Miss Nami.”

 

As she slumped her head onto the table, Luffy ran up to Sukima. “So you ate a Devil Fruit too, right? What can you do?”

 

She grinned as a _fucking gap_ zipped open beside her, allowing her to reach in and pull out a sun parasol. Oh lord, all she was missing was that little cap thing. “I can open rifts like this one and can store anything inside them, from little trinkets to cannons, anything! And I can also use them like this!” She then stepped through the gap as another opened on the wall opposite of the first, as she stepped out of it. “As long as I can remember anywhere I’ve been before, I can go there in an instant! Well, with reason of course.”

 

While stars were shining in Luffy’s eyes, all I could think was that she was inventory and fast travel.

 

“I’ve decided. You’re on the crew too!”

 

“I was hoping for that very much! Thank you, I’ll do the best of my abilities for you!”

 

All that was missing was a jingle signaling that Nami and this Sukima had joined the party. Wait, I think the one from Dragon Quest is on my phone.

 

“So what do I need to do?”

 

Neither girl said anything, but Sukima began drawing a length of rope from a small gap.

 

_ <SC> _

 

“I think I might be starting to regret this idea.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Be quiet you two! We’re almost there.”

 

As Nami was dragging Luffy down to Buggy’s base of operations (a bar that I forgot the name of) I was following behind them in a Faded state. Sukima had disappeared into a gap and Henry took his spot on top of a bound Luffy.

 

Nami’s plan was similar to that of the story’s, use Luffy as bait, get all the pirates drunk and loot everything afterwards. The change to this plan, however, was for her and Luffy to distract everyone while Sukima and I raid the storehouse.

 

We eventually made it to the bar, where I could see a literal fuck ton of circus themed pirates hanging around the place. And on a random flashy chair on top was the Clown himself, Buggy.

 

As Nami presented Luffy to the Clown, I made my way around the bar to the storehouse behind it, where I saw a couple of pirates guarding the thing. Floating my way up to the roof of the smaller building, I let myself Fade back into view out of sight of the mooks on the ground, Henry flying over the bar to join me.

 

“Caw.”

 

It took about a minute before things started wild in the bar, the party going into full swing. Even the guards out here got drawn into the celebrations. After they left I dropped down to the ground and turned to the doors. They were locked with a padlock, and if I had noticed earlier then I’d have tried to snatch a key. As it was, at least I had a chance to practice using wind to to sneak in.

 

“Chartreuse Blast!” BAM!

 

By blowing a hole into the door. I think I just saw Henry facepalm himself.

 

As I stepped back from my handywork, Sukima peeked into the hole. “Subtle. And after I went and got that key, as well.”

 

“Where the hell did you come from?! Eh, forget it. Just do your thing.”

 

A gap appeared next to her and she stuck her arm inside. A few seconds later the sound of falling coins and objects drifted out of the hole. Retrieving a parfait drink from the gap she stood beside me as she began drinking it.

 

As we were waiting for the treasure to stop falling, I decided to ask, “So, where did you wind up? I got dropped on Dawn Island.”

 

“Cocoyashi, actually! I ended up having to hide from Arlong for a while. After the last time Nami visited I started stalking her for a bit before I introduced myself.”

 

“Ah, is that so? I just raided Goa for over a month. Got these new swords. And Henry.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“So what’s the deal with the whole ‘Gap Youkai’ thing you got going on?”

 

“A-ah,” she stammered as a light blush appeared on her face. “I was a big fan of Touhou back home, and figured that I’d base my new self on whatever Devil Fruit I was given. Since I have portals, I went with Yukari!”

 

New self? Given?

 

**BOOOOM!!!**

 

Before I could ask though, a cannon fired and destroyed a line of buildings. Buggy was showing off his special ammunition, now.

 

“That’ll be my cue then. Stay here and finish up, I’ll go help out our Captain.”

 

“Of course! I need to actually be here for the portal to stay open.”

 

I flew up over the back of the bar, ready to fight a bunch of clowns.

 

_ <SC> _

 

Sukima watched as the Wind Man flew over the bar. His pet crow stayed behind however, giving her a hard stare.

 

“You wouldn’t mind being my ‘shikigami’, now would you?”

 

“Caw.”

 

“Ah, thought not.”

 

“HEY!”

 

Looking behind her, she saw a few of the pirates approaching her. _‘Ah, these are the… the Flying something something Brothers or some such.’_

 

One of whoever they were waved a saber around toward her, attempting to be threatening. “What do you think you’re doing around our treasure! Don’t you know who we are?!”

 

Sukima grinned, amused at the attempt. She hid a hand in a small portal as she replied, “Yes, and I’m taking said treasure right as we speak!”

 

“What?! Do you wanna die?!”

 

“Sukikiki, if you’re going to make that kind of threat…” Five portals opened in a half circle around her, each one exposing a cannon pointing right at them. “... then you should make sure that the other person can’t do the same.” A sizzling sound drifted out from the holes, causing the pirates to pale. “Would you care to die?”

 

That prompted the pirates to run away screaming, fearful for their lives. Henry was looking at her as though asking if she would have followed through.

 

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

 

And fled as each cannon fired, the spot the pirates were previously standing erupting in debris. Sukima could only laugh as she resumed sipping on her drink.

 

“... how much treasure does Buggy have? I mean really!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

As I peaked over the bar I saw some of Buggy’s men surrounding Nami, seeming that her plan took a bad turn. There’s also a cannon pointing at my Captain who is currently locked in a metal cage. Wonder if Zoro and Kuina could slice it open yet?

 

Anyway, there’s only one thing to do! Gathering a swirling mass of wind around my legs, I took careful aim at the innermost pirate after Nami.

 

“DYNAMIC ENTRY!!!”

 

Slamming both of my feet into that one pirate’s head, I unleashed the wind and blew the poor sucker right into the other pirates in the group and knocking them off the bar. This gave Nami enough time to put out the fuse for the cannon as all eyes landed on me. Oh wow, there were still a lot of these fuckers.

 

Buggy leapt up from his big flashy chair, shock and anger written on his face. “Who the flashy hell are you?!”

 

Might as well have some fun. Whipping my flat cap off my head, I bowed with exaggerated flourish. “First Mate of the Straw Hat Pirates Crowe, at your service!” Standing back up, I stuck my cap back on and jabbed a thumb behind me. “And I’m here to rescue my Captain!”

 

“Aw, thanks Crowe!”

 

The Clown squinted his eyes as he leaned forward. “Straw Hat Pirates? Never heard of you lot.”

 

“We just started the other day. We’ve got six people now!”

 

“Don’t count me as one of you, I said _maybe!”_

 

“Too bad, Nami!”

 

Growling, Buggy roared out, “Quiet! Men, don’t just stand there, get them!”

 

As the first wave of pirates came charging, I made to draw Joyeuse when flying slashes exploded out of the roof, collapsing it and dropping the men down into the bar. As the Buggy Pirates stood around in shock, I leaned over the edge of the new hole and called down, “Nice timing, you two! Didn’t think you’d ever show up!”

 

Out of the hole climbed Zoro and Kuina, swords drawn and no shits given. “You only say that because you flew on ahead of us, damn Wind Boy!”

 

Most of the remaining pirates reeled back in fear, only one of them having the courage to speak. “I-i-it’s the Sword Saint and the Sword Demon! What are they doing here?”

 

Buggy strode forth from his flashy chair, a confident smirk on his face. “Well, you two have definitely been making a name for yourselves lately. Have you decided to come after me to boost your fame?”

 

“Nah, we’re just here to rescue our Captain over there.”

 

“Thanks, guys!”

 

Growling, Buggy drew several knives held between his fingers. “You little brats! Don’t think I’ll just let you get away!”

 

Launching himself forward, he didn’t even defend himself as Zoro lashed out with Yamaoroshi and sliced him through.

 

“This guy was a threat? That was the most pathetic display I’ve seen in…” Zoro trailed of as the pirates around us began to laugh, relieved as they remembered that Buggy couldn’t be cut.

 

Nami looked around, creeped out and confused. “Why are they laughing? Their captain just got killed!”

 

While I had gathered some wind in my hand in preparation, Kuina had already lashed out with Wado Ichimonji and caught Buggy’s knife before it could bury itself in Zoro’s side. “It’s because he ate a Devil Fruit!”

 

“Hmph! How very perceptive of you.” The upper half of Buggy’s body, sans hand, floated up as more pieces of it began to detach from it and his lower half. Soon there were Buggy pieces flying all around the place, surrounding the roof and trapping us.

 

I’ll be honest, it was actually kind of gross. Eh? Why is Henry on Buggy’s hat?

 

“I ate the Chop-Chop Fruit, making me immune to swords! There’s nothing the two of you can do to me!”

 

“Hey, BIG NOSE!” All of the Buggy pieces froze as Luffy yelled out from his cage. “You jerk, you tried to stab one of my swordspeople! Get over here so I can kick your ass!” During this I made my way over to the cannon while they were all distracted.

 

Buggy’s face grew redder than his nose, his teeth grinding in anger. “You flashy little bastard! I’ll make your death painful to the very last second! Chop Chop Harpoon!” Both hands launched straight for Luffy, only for them to disappear into a pair of gaps that opened up next to the cage. The pained screams of a couple of pirates of too the side revealed where they ended up.

 

Another gap opened above the cage to reveal Sukima, a large grin on her face. “Hey, everyone! I emptied out the storehouse! I suggest that we make a tactical retreat now!”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

“Way ahead of you!” I drew everyone’s attention over to me, where I had lit the cannon again with Ripper’s lighter and aimed it right at the hole in the bar’s roof. “Zoro, grab Boss Man and let’s leg it!”

 

As Zoro grabbed Luffy’s cage and Kuina cleared a path out of there for everyone, I gave a one finger salute as I leapt off right as the cannon fired. The resulting explosion carried me off over a row of buildings before I could right myself and make my way over to where the others were reconvening.

 

As Henry joined me I could hear Buggy screaming obscenities in our general direction, declaring war on our asses. I figure that with three more members than in the canon, and with Zoro uninjured, we’d be able to beat them then and there.

 

But Nami needs to see this. She needs to see the kind of pirate, the kind of person that Luffy is. I think Sukima knows this as well, since I can see her leading everyone to Chouchou.

 

“Why can’t it be just like a game where you say _‘Join me!’_ and they reply _‘Sure!’_. That’d make this a lot simpler.”

 

“Caw!”


	6. Romance Dawn: Fighting the Buggy Pirates

When I caught up to the crew it was to the sight of a dog trying to bite Luffy’s face off.

 

“See, this is why you don’t piss off animals, Boss.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Shuddup an’ ged dis ‘dog offa me!” A closer look at Chouchou and I saw that he was covered in scratches and cuts. I didn’t realize that he had gotten so wounded guarding this place.

 

After prying Chouchou off of him, I finally noticed that Luffy was still in the cage. Turning to Zoro and Kuina, I asked, “Can either of you two cut this thing open?”

 

Kuina knocked on the top plate, shaking her head. “Sorry, but neither of us can cut steel. If this stuff was made of a weaker metal, then yeah.”

 

“The most either of us could do would be denting this thing, but that’s it.”

 

Sighing, I walked over to the cage. “I don’t suppose anyone managed to steal a key, did they? We’re gonna need Boss out of here for the fight with Buggy.”

 

Nami tossed over a key and I made sure that Chouchou didn’t get to it. “Why do we need to stay and fight? We might not have the map anymore but we got all the treasure, so we can just leave.” Map? Ah, right, Nami had to give back the map as part of her ruse. I forgot about that.

 

After I opened the cage Luffy sprang out, stretching out his body. “Ah man, I was getting all stiff in there!” Turning to Nami he replied, “We can’t just leave! That jerk tried to stab Zoro! And he said he’d be the one to conquer the Grand Line! The man who does that would be the Pirate King, and that’ll be me!” Conquer the Grand Line? I don’t remember that from the story; did he really say that? Eh.

 

**BOOOOM!!!**

 

Another couple of houses a few streets over erupted in a flash.

 

“Besides, if we leave now then this place won’t survive.”

 

“Damn,” I heard Nami grumble under her breath. “This is why I hate pirates.”

 

“Are you kids alright?!”

 

Just down the street was the man himself; Boddle, mayor of Orange Town. Decked out in brown armor and gauntlets over his yellow shirt, looking ready to kick some ass. 

 

“Caw!”

 

Ah, right. Boodle, like poodle. Thanks Henry.

 

“You kids need to find somewhere to hide! It seems like Buggy’s gone on the warpath now! Follow me, I’ll take you to my house!”

 

“Will there be food?” Dammit, Luffy.

 

_ <SC> _

 

We reconvened at Mayor Boodle’s house just a few buildings down the street. The mayor tried to convince the dog to come along, but the good boy didn’t budge. I stayed outside to keep an eye out for mooks and /or Mohji. We left the window open so that I could hear the conversation inside over the sound of Luffy eating.

 

“So what’s with the dog out there? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any animal that stubborn before,” I heard Nami ask, a “Caw!” from Henry in protest.

 

“Chouchou’s been guarding that pet shop for the last few days from Buggy’s pirates. Even before that, he’s been guarding it for months already.” A scraping of a chair told me that Boodle had stood up. “You see, ten years ago my friend Hocker, Chouchou’s owner, opened that shop for the town. For ten years he and Chouchou have provided food for the pets of the town. Then about three months back he got sick and went to the hospital, and Chouchou had stayed behind to watch the shop. Hocker didn’t make it.

 

“Since then, Chouchou’s been sitting there watching over the place, fighting off that Clown’s goons. That place is precious to him, and I have no doubt that he’d fight to the death for it.”

 

“So it’s his treasure, right?” That was Luffy, probably done with eating.

 

“His treasure? What do you mean by that?” Nami asked.

 

“Well, if something’s really precious to you, that makes it your treasure. Like my hat! Shanks gave it to me a long time ago, and it’s my treasure. Kuina and Zoro’s swords are their treasures, right?”

 

“I suppose you’re right,” I heard Kuina say. “Wado Ichimonji has been with me for so long, and I’ve taken care of it this whole time.”

 

“I’m not sure if I’m at that point, yet, but Yamaoroshi has definitely lasted me longer than any other sword that I’ve had.”

 

I heard Sukima speak next. “I myself have several things I treasure, things that I just absolutely couldn’t leave behind.”

 

“What about you, Crowe?” Luffy had stuck his head out the window and was now leaning on the sill. “Do you have any treasure?”

 

“Me? I have things I’m attached to, sure, but I haven’t any kind of treasure yet.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“You don’t count, featherbutt.”

 

“Ah, we need to get you one, then!” Leaning back inside, he went on. “A treasure doesn’t need to be gold or jewels or money. It just needs to be something valuable, even if it’s only for that one person.”

 

I looked inside and saw Nami seated at the counter, silent for a little bit before saying, “Huh, I think I see what you mean. What about you, Mayor Boodle? What’s your treasure?”

 

“This town.” The mayor stuck his hand out of the window, waving to the buildings around us. “I came here a long time ago with others, and built one building. Soon that building was joined by another, and soon we had a small village, which grew into what we have now. We poured our hearts and souls into making this place!”

 

**BOOOM!!!** I looked back out and saw a distant flash, wood spraying up into the air.

 

“And now that damn Clown and his band of hooligans are tearing this place apart! If I were any younger, or stronger; if I wasn’t so weak…”

 

“Don’t worry, Mr Poodle. We’ll take care of him, right guys?”

 

After hearing a small round of affirmatives Boodle asked, “You kids? But why would you risk your lives for our town?”

 

“He’s looking for us anyway, so if we go to him then he’ll stop bombing your town. We’ll beat him up for you, Poodle. We’ll help protect your treasure!”

 

“Y-you kids!”

 

I turned to look inside again, but my attention was drawn to the big ass lion that had rounded the block down the street. “Hey Mayor, does Buggy own a lion or is that someone’s lost pet?”

 

“LION?!”

 

Dashing out of the house, Boodle paled as he looked down the street. “Oh no, we need to leave!” 

 

As he turned around though, there were a bunch of mooks lined up blocking the road.

 

“There’s nowhere for you to run now.”

 

“ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!”

 

OW! That was fucking loud, stupid ass lion!

 

Having reached us I took a look at the man and lion combo. Mohji the pet tamer and his lion, Richie. They had stopped in front of the pet shop, but neither had noticed it or Chouchou glaring at them. Henry flew over to join the dog.

 

“I am Mohji, world class pet tamer and Captain Buggy’s first mate.” Wait. “I and my lion Richie have been dispatched to deal with the lot of you.” What? “Though if you surrender now, I’m sure that Captain Buggy will give you a swift and painless, if not flashy, death.”

 

WHAT!

 

_ “Hold it!” _

 

As everyone’s attention was turned to me, I pointed right Mohji. “YOU’RE the first mate?! I thought it was that guy with the kick ass scarf!”

 

I was rewarded for my outburst by the sight of the pirates falling over in a near perfect face fault; Mohji fell off the lion as well.

 

“Dammit,  _ I  _ am the first mate, not Cabaji!”

 

“Well, it’s not hard to make that mistake. Cabaji  _ is  _ more impressive when you don’t have Richie with you,” One of the mooks supplied.

 

“YOU! Shut it, you’re now responsible for cleaning up after Richie!”

 

“What, NOOOOO!!!”

 

This is funny and all, but we need to move on. “Hey, Boss.”

 

“Yeah, Crowe?”

 

“How ‘bout you leave these mooks to me? You guys head over to Buggy and deck him in the schnoz.”

 

Seating himself back on Richie, Mohji sneered down at me. “You think that a single fool like you can take all of us on?” The pirates blocking off the street began to jeer as well.

 

Ignoring them all, Luffy asked me, “Can you do it?”

 

I grinned as I rose off the ground and the wind kicked up around me, spiralling out as I drew Joyeuse with my right hand. “None of these idiots are goin’ ta touch me!”

 

“Shishishi, alright! Sukima, can you take us to the bar?”

 

“Of course, Captain.” A gap wide enough for the crew opened in front of the house. “This way, please.”

 

Everyone except Sukima went in, and as she drew her parasol I asked, “What, you don’t think I can win?”

 

“Oh no, nothing like that. I just think I should help my fellow out is all. And as you said… ” A line of gaps opened up in front of her, aiming at the crowd of pirates at my back. “None of these fools shall even touch me!”

 

On top of Richie, I could see Mohji start to shake. “Y-you both ate Devil Fruit as well?! What kind of crew are you?!”

 

My grin grew wider, and I could tell that Sukima had one on her face as well. “We’re the crew of the PIRATE KING!”

 

Sukima began her assault by firing muskets and rifles from her gaps, causing most of the pirates on her side to duck for cover. What few that didn’t dodge tried to charge, but had to swerve out of the way of more gaps launching swords and other weapons.

 

One pirate managed to slip close to her and lash out with a saber, but the sword only swung through a thin gap that opened back up behind the man, causing him to slash his own back.

 

On my side of the street I began by attacking Richie, as he was the biggest threat. Ignoring a swipe through my head I launched a Chartreuse Blade at his legs, forcing the large lion to jump up. A spiraling gale formed from my arm as I fired a Chartreuse Hammer at Richie’s face, though all I had managed was to stagger the lion and mess up his landing. It did knock Mohji off of his back and onto the ground in a painful THUMP!, where Chouchou and Henry began to attack the so called Pet Tamer.

 

“AH! Stop, cease, desist! I command you- OW! WHY WON’T YOU TWO LISTEN TO ME?!”

 

“Arf!”

 

“Caw!”

 

Once Richie regained his bearings he made to go rescue his tamer, only for another Chartreuse Hammer to smash into the side of his face. Catching his attention, I began to charge at his legs. I slashed Joyeuse at each leg to force the feline to back up with every swing, pushing him away from Mohji. Charging as much wind into my left hand as I could I flew right in Richie’s face, punched him right on the side of his muzzle, and expelled all the charged wind.

 

“Chartreuse Hook!”

 

The lion smashed into a house three buildings to the left of the pet shop, and I couldn’t help but grimace. “Hey, Sukima! You sure you have enough treasure to leave behind for the town?”

 

From where she was Gapping mooks right into each other she called back, “If you can stop demolishing the place long enough then yes!”

 

Richie smashed his way out of the ruins of the house, clearly pissed off. Three facts were immediately made known to me; Richie was a lot tougher than the animals from Dawn Island, Luffy was strong enough to knock the fucker out in one attack, and I was not. If I wanted to take this lion down then I’ll need to get creative for this.

 

_ <SC> _

 

“Hey, BIG NOSE!!!”

 

From what was left of his base’s roof, Buggy looked down and saw that damn brat and thief standing in front of the bar ruins. Beside them were the two ‘former’ bounty hunters. As far as he could tell, two of them were missing, probably fighting with Mohji. He was barely aware of his crew shuffling away from him as he aimed the cannon right at the kid in the hat. A vaguely familiar hat… 

 

“So you little brats finally decided to give up and face your deaths, did you?”

 

“No way, we came here to deck you in the schnoz!”

 

“Captain, do you even know what a schnoz is?”

 

“Uh, it’s a big nose, right? I mean, it’d be really hard to miss it on this guy, wouldn’t it?”

 

A vein began to bulge under his hat as Buggy began to see red.  _ ‘Red?’  _ “Why you little- you’re just begging to die a great flashy death, aren’t you?!”

 

“Nah, I’d rather live.”

 

“Too bad! BUGGY BALL!!!”

 

As the cannon fired, he was sure that he would finally be rid of this pest and his little pals. So when the kid suddenly inflated big enough to catch the bomb, he and his crew flinched in shock!

 

“Gum Gum BALLOON!”

 

And then the brat launched the Buggy Ball right back at him.  _ ‘Ah, bugger.’ _

 

**BOOOOOM!!!**

 

_ <SC> _

 

Luffy watched as the final remains of the bar erupted in a huge flash. “Did I get him?”

 

Suddenly he found Nami in his face, grabbing him and shaking him back and forth by his vest. “Nevermind that! How the hell did you do that balloon thing?! You ate a Devil Fruit as well, didn’t you?!” She grabbed his face and began to pull, stretching it this way and that before letting go. “How many of you pseudo-humans are there in this crew?!”

 

“Uh, with Sukima that’d be me, her and Crowe. So… three!”

 

“That’s over half your crew!!!”

 

“Exactly half, actually. Considering you’re part of the crew now then half of us have eaten a Devil Fruit.” Ah, Kuina was right! 

 

“I SAID MAYBE!!!”

 

“There’s no maybe for a pirate, you’re one of us! Wait, where’s Sukima?”

 

Before Nami could strangle him, debris from the wrecked bar began to shift. Out of the rubble rose Buggy and another man, both having shielded themselves with members of their own crew! That wasn’t the right way to treat your crew!

 

The other man, who had that kick ass scarf Crowe must have mentioned, sighed as he dumped the bodies of his abused crewmates. “This is the most humiliation we’ve ever suffered while under this flag. No one has ever been this much trouble before.”

 

Buggy meanwhile, was silently contemplating what he heard the boy say. “Three Devil Fruit users, this hasn’t ever happened in the East Blue before. How could they manage to get three of them on the same crew?”

 

The scarf wearing man turned to his captain, pulling out a unicycle out of the rubble. “Captain, shall I go deal with these pests? The other two with those powers aren’t here and I have no doubt that I can defeat them with my acrobatic skills.”

 

“Of course, Cabaji. Go and take care of them.”

 

Scarf guy jumped onto the unicycle and speed along the street, aiming at Luffy with a pair of swords. 

 

CLANG!!!

 

He never got close as two swords parried each of the acrobat's blades, forcing him to back off as Wado Ichimonji and Yamaoroshi both lashed out at him. Kuina and Zoro bared their swords at Cabaji, daring him to try again.

 

“So, which of us is going to handle this guy?”

 

“I think you should, Zoro. You are falling behind, after all.”

 

“Dammit, Kuina, it was only nine days!” Even still, he strode forward as he placed Yamaoroshi’s hilt in his mouth. Drawing two fresh swords from his case, he gave them a twirl before taking up a stance in front of Cabaji.

 

“So I get to duel the Sword Demon, do I? It’ll be an honor as a swordsman to kill you.” 

 

_ <SC> _

 

I watched Richie lumber out of the ruined house. Mohji’s being taken care of by Chouchou and Henry over there, and behind me Sukima was literally throwing the mooks around through her gaps now.

 

Going through my head for a plan to kick this lion’s ass, one idea popped into mind, though I would need to gather enough power to pull it off. 

 

Digging my fidget spinner out of my pocket, I called out to the two animals, “Henry, Chouchou! Move it!”

 

As they tore away from Mohji (literally, they took his pants) I charged the spinner with wind before launching it at his feet.

 

“Chartreuse Windmill!”

 

The spinner unleashed a powerful gale that picked up the tamer and tossed him up into the air, catching the attention of Richie who surprisingly became worried. 

 

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

 

As the lion tried to keep under the now airborne man I flew forward and slashed along Richie’s left flank, leaving a deep gash through the limb. As he reared back in pain I charged as much wind as I could into my arms and ducked underneath him. Slamming a fist into his stomach, I pumped out as much wind from my arms as I could until I had enough force behind my fist that Richie was now off the ground. 

 

“Chartreuse Gale: Wind God’s FIST!!!”

 

The force exploded out, creating a massive gale that carried Richie up into the air, catching Mohji as he began to fall back down. Flying up to meet them, I gathered all the wind in my other arm and channeled it around Joyeuse. Once I was above them, I let loose.

 

“Say goodnight! Chartreuse Blade!”

 

The blast of wind slammed into Mohji, launching both him and Richie back crashing down in the street below, dust and street tiles flying from their impact. 

 

As I landed back down, I took a look at my handy work. One unconscious lion, one unconscious pet tamer, and a smug little crow who sat on top of the two.

 

“Caw!”

 

“What did- ah fuck it, go ahead.”

 

“Caw!”

 

I caught my spinner as it flew back to me with the last bit of wind carrying it, and stuck it back in my pocket. My arm was feeling numb and I was left feeling incredibly winded from this fight, but I was able to-

 

“Grrowr…”

 

“Chartreuse Hook!”

 

BAM!!!

 

Okay, NOW the lion was totally K.O’ed. 

 

I fell back onto the tiled street as Henry fluttered down onto my stomach. Chouchou parking himself next to me as I began to pet his head.

 

“Good boy.”

 

“Arf.”

 

Sukima strode over from her side of the street, panting slightly but in good condition all the same. Behind her were pirates in various states of harm, self-inflicted and otherwise. “Well, I’d say that we’re done here, wouldn’t you agree?”

 

I was breathing hard as I tried to sit back up. “Y-yep. Give me a bit and… and we’ll go meet up with Boss… ah fuck, I’m too tired. Gap us over there, will ya? I can’t get up.”

 

“Of course.” A gap opened up underneath me and I fell through it, the sight of the pet shop replaced with that of a fucked up bar in a second. I hit the ground in a thud somewhere behind Luffy and the crew, Sukima landing next to me much more softly with Henry on her shoulder. Nami gave us a glance and Kuina nodded in our direction, and when Luffy looked over we gave him a thumb’s up, which we got in return. I also saw that Zoro and Cabaji were fighting.

 

“Dance of 100 Kamikaze Tops!”

 

Zoro said nothing as he cut each explosive top in half, leaving them in pieces and inept. Watching the desperate acrobat climb a wall he moved his swords into position for his next attack, and I noticed Luffy stomping on something, Buggy’s hand if I had to guess looking at the Clown’s pained face. 

 

As Cabaji launched himself off of the wall, Zoro muttered, “I’m getting tired of this poor excuse of a fight. Santoryu: Oni GIRI!”

 

Three slashes caught Cabaji as he reached the peak of his flip, one slicing his unicycle in half and the other two scoring across his chest. Sheathing his swords, Zoro walked away as the acrobat hit the ground hard. When he made his way over to us he asked, “When did you two get here?”

 

“Just now. Got to punch a lion. How was your fight?”

 

“Disappointing. I was expecting a duel between swordsmen but all I got were a bunch of cheap tricks. Kuina owes me a fight for this.”

 

What few pirates I could see were backing away in fear, probably in shock that Cabaji was easily beaten. Buggy, meanwhile, was gritting his teeth in frustration. “How the hell could a bunch of no-name pirates be this strong?!”

 

“Hey, Buggy!” Luffy had stepped forward and was pointing at the Clown. “Give us that map to the Grand Line!”

 

“Give you- The Grand Line is no place for a bunch of no names like yourselves! What could you ever hope to accomplish there, anyway?”

 

A look of resolution flashed on Luffy’s face as he declared to the world, “I’m gonna be the King of the Pirates, that’s what!”

 

I’ve read stories where people react to this. Of how it would feel like the universe seemed to freeze at this moment for a second, of how reality would seem to agree.

 

But me? I didn’t feel anything of this. After all, why would I need something like that to tell me what I already knew as a fact written in steel; that  **Monkey D Luffy will be the King of Pirates.**

 

From Buggy’s face, though, he seemed to disagree. “King of- If ANYONE is going to be the King of Pirates, it’s going to be me! Not some little brat wearing a damn straw hat!”

 

“HEY! Don’t insult my hat, you asshole!”

 

I noticed that my vision was getting blurry and that I was dizzy; I think that fight with Richie took whatever stamina those pills left me with before hand. Kuina noticed my wavering state and asked, “Crowe, are you alright?”

 

“I’ll… I’ll tell you when I wak...e…”

 

Zzz… zzz… zzz… 

 

_ <SC> _

 

Poke poke poke

 

“Hey, Crowe! You okay?”

 

Poke poke poke

 

“Crowe?”

 

Poke poke-

 

I swatted away the offending finger as I made an effort to sit back up. “‘M up, I’m up. What’s going on?”

 

Luffy backed away a little bit and I saw that his hat was missing, replaced with Henry. “I sent that Buggy guy flying and got the map back, but he stabbed my hat. Look at this! This hole is huge!” He waved his poor straw hat in my face showing me the admittedly slim hole in it. Looking past Luffy I noticed that we were still hanging around the broken bar and the Buggy Pirates were gone.

 

“How long was I out?”

 

“Uh… I think a few minutes. You were awake before I fought that Clown, and when I was done you were sleeping like Gramps does, just on your back.”

 

Being compared to a narcoleptic grandfather would have hurt if I hadn’t known who his ‘Gramps’ was. It did sting a little though.

 

Moving around to wake myself up, I saw the crew reconvening in our spot. Nami and Sukima followed after our swordmasters with a bag of treasure at the ready. 

 

“After everything that’s happened today, I have come to the decision to help you guys with navigation as agreed. And as a bonus here’s a small cut of the treasure we took from Buggy.” She tossed the bag to Luffy. Well, it wasn’t how I’d thought it’d happen, but all’s good. “There was even enough to leave for the village to rebuild. With everything I have left I can definitely buy Cocoyashi Village and then some!”

 

“Oh neat! Well, let’s get going going, then! Crowe looks like he’s about to fall asleep again.”

 

I would have argued that if I didn’t yawn just then.

 

“Hey, I just noticed, but where is Mayor Boodle?”

 

At Kuina’s question it became apparent that the mayor was indeed missing. Sukima snapped her fingers as if she remembered something.

 

“Oh, I kept him in my rift so that he’d be safe!”

 

And with that a gap opened and the mayor fell out, landing on his head and knocking himself out.

 

“Ah. It may not have been a good idea to open a rift in mid-air.”

 

“Hey! What did you people do to our mayor?!”

 

Behind us the townsfolk had shown up, looking like they were ready to come help fight off the pirates. 

 

I turned to Sukima, deadpan written all over my face. “We’re going to run, ain’t we?”

 

“Yep!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

“Shishishi, that was fun! I hope they can fix everything.”

 

“With what I left them they better.”

 

Crowe settled down in his spot at the stern of their original boat as Luffy sat at the bow and Zoro took the middle. With the addition of Sukima and Nami’s boat, Kuina had decided to park herself on the designated ‘girls’ boat’. Henry took his seat on top of Crowe as Zoro and Nami worked to tie the boats together.

 

“We’re going to need to get a proper ship before we even try to go to the Grand Line. We’ll need a lot of things as well, to be honest.” 

 

“Okay, but first can you fix my hat for me?”

 

Sighing, Nami took the hat from Luffy as she went on. “You guys are lucky I decided to help you out, you know that? Really lucky.”

 

Luffy sat back as he rested his hands behind his head. “Eh, it’ll all be fine! At the very least we have Crowe, and he knows things!”

 

“Zzz… zzz… zzz…”

 

“Right. What did I sign myself into?”


	7. Intermission: Henry, Episode One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by my Beta EXNativo, writer of Will-Powered.

Sometimes, I was really glad that I was reborn as a simple crow.  
  
Don’t get me wrong, it would have been nice if I was able to breathe fire or shoot lasers from my eyes, or something. If I had to sacrifice almost all of my practicality and social appeal for it, though, then maybe it just wasn’t worth it.  
  
The island wasn’t anything impressive to look at. Certainly, there were trees… and a beach… but nothing much else. I surveyed the land from my perch atop Crowe’s chest, rising with his breaths and feeling a bit like a King. Then he rolled over, and I had to hop off of him before I got crushed.  
  
Figures stealing my identity wasn’t enough. He needed to get rid of the evidence.  
  
I think the worst part about this arrangement was the fact that I couldn’t really talk to anyone anymore.  
  
“Oi, get up! I don’t feel like flying today!” Crowe had woken up a couple of times along the way, but he’s collapsed again almost as soon as we’d hit the shore. After hearing that he was getting the day off training for reasons to do with exercising type things, he’d just collapsed onto the bottom of the canoe type thing we were in. Maybe he’d whacked his head a little on the way down. Maybe I’d laughed at him after he was already unconscious. Who was going to call me out on it?  
  
His response came in the form of a dull snore. Only weak when I want something, I see how it is.  
  
I sighed, which translated into another caw. It wasn’t like he didn’t  _deserve_  some rest, but it was my job as a sarcastic animal sidekick to make fun of him at every turn. However, it was  _also_  my job as a sarcastic animal sidekick to be concerned when the mood was right. If my revenge came ten years down the road, in the form of a traumatising fanart that shipped the two of us, then so be it. For now, I would stand guard vigilantly over his body, and ensure that he returned to the world of the waking-  
  
A rift had suddenly opened right above Crowe’s face. I watched, head tilting to the side, as that Sukima lady that really shouldn’t have been here in the first place emerged, pulling one arm from behind her and uncapping a permanent marker. Then she caught sight of me.  
  
I took flight carefully, before she could decide against her current plan of action. It wouldn’t do to stop her; Crowe would have to learn the hard way that you don’t pass out on the ship before getting to a hammock first. Otherwise, just like when I warned him to buy the padlock that protected against interdimensional travel for his treasure hoard and he didn’t listen, he wouldn’t learn.  
  
No, we didn’t actually have any hammocks on either of the dinky little rafts for him to retire to. I still had faith that he would be fine. This would build character and, if that marker really was permanent, it would be a push for him to learn how to differentiate between his body and anything else on him when he was turning into wind.  
  
See, I was  _helping._  
  
Even so, it looked like I was going to be exploring the island after all. Welcome to the Henry Show, where we look at trees and find delicious worms and stuff.  
  
And that’s when the first of the strange animals appeared. I was barely off the boat when I caught sight of it, and my first immediate thought was something along the lines of, “is that a new Pokémon?” Seriously,  _what_  did a snake have to do to a rabbit to get that end result?  
  
It looked up at me from the hole it had crawled out of. Its eyes said, “kill me,” but its heart said, “pain.” I hovered in place for a moment, which is a lot harder for a crow than you may think it is, before winging it back over the trees. Maybe it was a hallucination. Yeah, it was probably a hallucination. There was no way that something like that could exist in this part of the world, this was the normal part-  
  
 _Is that an upright tiger-elephant?_  
  
“Jolly good morning, kind sir!” The thing called, waving its trunk at me. I only got the gist of what it was saying; being an animal myself gave me some leeway when it came to understanding them, but this creature had one of the thickest accents that I’d ever heard. It may as well have been talking through a mouthful of mud, while I was listening through an earful of wet concrete.  
  
I almost crashed by trying to wave, and after that I was flying back towards the boat. There must have been something in the water. Maybe it was in the air! Maybe I was already contaminate- heeeellloooooooooo lady bird!  
  
I swerved around a tree trunk, which was better than flying right into it at full speed, and shot out my talons, looking for  _something_  to arrest my momentum. I ended up hanging off a branch upside down, like some lowly  _bat_ , but it was the perfect perch to appreciate that colouring… and the fullness of those tail feathers… and that-  
  
The bird turned around. It had a dog’s face. Of course, it had a dog’s face. Why wouldn’t it have a dog’s face? “You got a problem, pal?” Came the very gruff, very  _male_  voice, and it hit me right then that I had just been checking out an animal. And not even one of those animals that people put effort into making attractive!  
  
WHY WAS I THINKING OF ATTRACTIVE ANIMALS!?  
  
 _“I’ve been a bird too long!”_  
  
The last thing I saw before winging out of there was the dog-bird type hybrid fusion  _thing_  roll its eyes. Because  _of course_  it would roll its eyes.  
  


_(SC)_

  
Where did Crowe get the name Henry? My name was  _Carl_. Granted, I never liked my name, but who names a crow  _Henry?_  
  
Obviously, his Devil Fruit was turning him into carbon dioxide. I had no other explanation for the apparent lack of oxygen getting to his brain. That didn’t mean, however, that I wasn’t going to fly all the way back to him and curl up on his head so he would protect me from all the horrors in this world.  
  
“Ah, Henry!”  
  
I barely even heard Luffy, too busy lamenting to myself about names and stupid sexy bird creatures and the fact that stupid sexy bird creatures existed. I did feel him, though, when I crashed right into him while in mid-air and spiralled back down to the island with him.  
  
“What the hey, dude!” I made my indignation known with an aggravated caw. He only gave me a blinding grin in response, probably having not understood what I was saying to him, and picked me up like he would any regular ball of feathers.  
  
“This is who I was just telling you about!” He turned me around as he said that, looking over my head. I decided to humour him for the moment, allowing myself to be manhandled rather than pecking his fingers off as I usually would. If he was talking about me, then that probably meant that there was someone he could understand, and that could only be a good thing-  
  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH-  
  
“CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW-”  
  
This… This was Hell. As a man reincarnated into the form of a bird, I thought I’d escaped. But no… No. I’d not gone anywhere. They were just building up to the reveal.  
  
Luffy had dragged me down into a forest clearing. How he’d even seen me coming, let alone caught me before I could leave was a mystery. That was par for the course, Luffy very rarely offered any answers to questions. There was a great deal that just had to accepted about him.  
  
This time, if I managed to get away, I would be demanding answers! You didn’t spring nightmares on valued sarcastic animal sidekicks, no matter whose sidekick they were!  
  
All around us, were animals. These weren’t just any plain old animals, oh no. They were fusions, hybrids, chimeras of the highest altitude of fucked up! Why was this island thought up? Why would some madman do such a thing!?  
  
A cow with a snake for a neck stood to my immediate left, with none of the lethal control that serpents were known for. Every movement made its head flop from side to side, as though there were no bones between its shoulders and its skull. That same tiger-elephant was standing to the right, swaying back and forth as it tried to keep its ridiculously proportioned body upright on feline legs. Its forelegs looked more like a T-rex’s arms than anything else, and its trunk was swinging back and forth, most likely to counterbalance it.  
  
“Guys!” Of course, Luffy paid no attention to the deafening shriek still coming from my beak, instead presenting my puffed-up to the crowd while I continued to sing the song of my people. “This is Henry!”  
  
“Hi Henry.” All of the monsters chorused.  
  
“CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW-!” I said.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-!” I meant to say.  
  
“So will you join my crew?” Luffy asked the bush in the middle of the clearing. Before it could answer, one of the trees to our side toppled over, and before I knew it, I was being held to a chest that was mostly thin air.  
  
Crowe! My knight in swirling armour!  
  
“Boss, what is-!” Crowe blinked a couple of times, unwrapping one hand from around me so he could rub at his eyes. “...are you trying to recruit a bush?”  
  
“Full breed…” One of the cat looking things near the back of the crowd hissed, flicking a forked tongue in my direction.  
  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-!  
  
“CAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW-!”  
  


_(SC)_

  
That concludes this episode of the Henry Show.  
  
I’m traumatised now.


	8. Romance Dawn: Liar of Syrup Village

Kuina watched as Crowe and Nami were discussing where to go next; so far it seemed like they had decided on the Gecko Islands, in hope of finding a proper ship for the crew. Zoro and Luffy were busy fishing and Henry was still hiding inside the ‘men's’ boat. She made her way into the little cabin on the ‘women’s’ boat where Sukima was reading a book of some kind.

 

“Excuse me, but could you spare a moment of your time?”

 

Marking her place, Sukima set down her manga to pay attention to the swordswoman. “Of course, sweetie! What can I do for you?”

 

_ ‘I forgot that Crowe and Sukima were older than the rest of us. They certainly don’t act like it.’ _

 

“You come from the same world as Crowe, correct? You’ve read our story?”

 

Sukima’s face took on a contemplative look. “Yes, and I have.”

 

“What happens to me?”

 

The Rift women was silent for a few moments, as though she was trying to think of the best answer. “... you die falling down the stairs after your duel with Zoro.”

 

“I see.” Kuina had a feeling that the answer Crowe had given her before wasn’t the truth, and now she knew why he lied.

 

“I heard about that silly answer that Crowe gave you, but I feel that it would be best to let you know what happened in the story. Besides, that Kuina and you are two different people.”

 

“Different, huh?”

 

_ Young Kuina had searched all over the place looking for a sharpening stone. That last duel with Zoro had taken the edge off of Wado Ichimonji. _

 

_ “Seriously, he didn’t have to keep swinging that hard! Maybe there’s one upstairs.” _

 

_ Climbing the steps to the upper level of her home, she yawned and missed a step, causing her foot to slip. _

 

_ “Wha- aahh!” _

 

_ She fell back about a foot before something caught her. _

 

**_“It’d be best if you stay focused while climbing up the stairs. Who knows what could have happened?”_ **

 

_ Blinking, she found herself standing at the top of the stairs, well away from the spot she had fallen at. There was no sign of whatever it was that had helped her. _

 

As the memory faded, Kuina nodded. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that. Though I’ll need to discipline Crowe for lying.”

 

“Oh dear, do be gentle on him. I’m sure he did it out of concern. After all, what would anyone say or do after hearing that they should have died?”

 

“Well, I suppose you have a point. He didn’t have to say I get fat, though.”

 

Outside the cabin they heard Luffy shout, “LAND HO!!!”

 

“OW!!! Fuck, as if my tinnitus wasn’t bad already!”

 

“Caw!”

 

Dropping her manga into a rift, Sukima walked out of the small room. “Are you coming, dear?”

 

“Yeah, give me a second.”

 

As she too exited the cabin, it was to the sight of an island stretching out on the horizon and to Crowe and Henry smacking Luffy upside the head.

 

_ ‘Different people, huh? Hmm, don’t worry other me. I’ll become the strongest for the both of us.’ _

 

_ <SC> _

 

After beaching the two boats we had I took a look around at the slope leading up onto the island proper. 

 

Gecko Island, home of Syrup Village and the future Sogeking! I tried to remember everything I could about this arc as I could, from Kaya to Kuro to those little brats that followed Usopp around. The last two arcs threw me off with the addition of Kuina and Sukima, who knew what this one would bring!

 

“You shouldn’t worry so much.” Sukima said as she stepped next to me. “It’s not like we’re going to end up with Kaya on the crew.”

 

“Really? Chances say otherwise considering the trend of our kind of stories.”

 

“Oh, now you’re just being paranoid.”

 

“Vivi, Conis, Nojiko, Johnny and Yosaku, Gin-”

 

“Caw!” Henry supplied as he settled on my shoulder.

 

“Oh, right.  _ Ghin _ , Mr 9, Goldenweek-”

 

“Alright, I get it, I see your point. But Kaya would be too sick at this time to join, anyway. Like I said, relax. Your eyes get scary when you think too hard. Like, villain scary.”

 

“My eyes don’t get scary.”

 

“Caw.”

 

Before I could say anything else Luffy came jogging up to us, the others following after at a more sedate pace. For some reason Henry flew away from Luffy’s proximity.

 

“Hey, Crowe! There’s a place to eat on this island. Right?”

 

I would have said something if several stomachs hadn’t chosen that moment to speak up. Nami and Kuina both sported light blushes as they looked away, while Zoro just stood there.

 

“Yeah, the closest village is up past this slope, though it’s pretty guarded.”

 

Zoro looked up the slope at that, pointing at the top of it. “You don’t mean those kids, do you?”

 

Trying to hide at the top of the slope were three kids and one young man. The Usopp Pirates.

 

“AHHHH!!! They saw us! Run for your lives!!!”

 

Correction, no kids and one young man. Usopp.

 

“Hey! Where’re you going?!” Now that he was alone, Usopp stood straight up and jabbed a finger down at us. “Hey, you pirates better think twice about coming here! I am Captain Usopp, the mightiest man on this island! Me and my, my eight-thousand followers won’t hesitate to kick you lot off!” His boast might have been more impressive if his knees weren’t shaking.

 

“Whoa! Eight-thousand! That’s the biggest crew I’ve ever heard of!”

 

I tried not to grin at Nami’s facepalm. I really did.

 

“Luffy, he’s obviously lying.”

 

“Eh? He is?”

 

“How’d you know?! Wait, I mean, uh, oh crap!”

 

I called out to the panicking kid, “Relax, will you? We ain’t planning on attacking your village!”

 

That seemed to get him to calm down. “Y-you aren’t? But aren’t you with the Buggy Pirates?”

 

We all turned our attention to the ‘women’s’ boat, where the sail bearing Buggy’s jolly roger hung loosely.

 

“Nah, we took their boat is all.”

 

“Really? Whew, I got scared for nothing!”

 

“Shishishi, you’re pretty funny! You had me going there, too!”

 

And just like that, a bond has formed.

 

We made our way up the slope to meet the young man in person and damn! That nose was kinda long. “Ah, welcome to Syrup Village! I am Usopp, the Great and Proud! And who are you guys?”

 

Luffy looked like he was busy thinking,  so I stepped forward to introduce us. “We, my good man, are the up and coming Straw Hat Pirates! Like I said, we aren’t here to do anything. This is our navigator, Nami.” She didn’t bother trying to correct me, having given up back on Gaimon’s island. She gave a friendly wave at least. “These are our swordmasters, Kuina and Zoro,” Kuina bowed and Zoro just nodded. “Our inventory, Sukima.”

 

“Oh how rude! You don’t have to refer to me as ‘Inventory’!”

 

“You drew the ‘henohenomoheji’ face on me. I’m calling you Inventory in return.”

 

“Hmph!” Turning to Usopp she curtseyed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, dearie.”

 

“I’m the first mate. Name’s Crowe, and that’s Henry up there.”

 

“Up where- where’d you come from?!” Somehow Henry was able to perch on top of Usopp’s head without him noticing.

 

“Caw!”

 

“And this is our Captain, Luffy.”

 

And as he stepped forward, he asked, “You said your name was Usopp, right? You wouldn’t happen to be Yasopp’s son, would you?”

 

“HUH? You know my dad?!”

 

And soon we followed the two teenagers down into Syrup Village, listening about Luffy’s encounter with the older sniper. Eventually we settled into the small village’s just as small restaurant, Meshi, where the mayor (who happened to be there) was shocked to find out that we were pirates.

 

“Goodness, it’s not often that Usopp here tells the truth! Today must be a special day!”

 

I settled into a booth with Zoro, Kuina and Sukima as Luffy, Nami and Usopp (still with Henry on his head) took a table. I had swiped the latest edition of the newspaper and began to read it as Nami asked, “How often does he tell the truth?”

 

“Why never!”

 

Usopp slumped down in defeat at that. “Oh come on, Mr Mornin! You know why I keep lying about the pirates being here at least!”

 

“Of course! To tell me when it’s time to start the day,” Mayor Mornin joked. 

 

As Nami began to ask where we could find a ship, I focused on the paper. Undyne, ‘the first fishwoman marine’, had been transferred to Logue Town under Smoker’s command. That’ll be fun times. And- oh? The King of Goa was stripped of his title and royalty? Huh, guess that’s how Shelly became the king, then. Nothing after that really grabbed my attention, so I moved onto the bounties and-

 

“Oh neat. Hey Boss, they gave me a bounty!”

 

“Huh? Let me see, let me see!”

 

A rubber hand snatched the paper in question out of my grasp, leaving me to stare at the image of a guy wanted for a long list of random misdemeanors. 

 

Over at their table I heard Nami read out, “‘Wanted: _ Phantom  _ Crowe, at a bounty of ten million beris for the crimes of petty theft, theft from the Marines and theft from the Goa Royalty.’ Now see, if you were a good thief like me then you wouldn’t have a bounty on your head already.”

 

“Aw man, I can’t believe you got one before I did!”

 

SMACK! “It’s not something you should want!”

 

“I’m just not too sure about that nickname, really. Is there some way I can get that changed to something better?”

 

“Would you rather it be Wind Boy?”

 

“Fuck you, Zoro!”

 

“I will smack the both of you as well if you don’t knock it off!”

 

As the two of us quieted down, Nami turned back to Usopp. “So this friend of yours might be able to help us find a ship?”

 

“She  _ owns _ a ship! I’m sure that if we go ask her then she’d give it to you.”

 

An apprehensive look appeared on Nami’s face. “I don’t know. Maybe we should go ask around the other villages around here, instead.”

 

I folded the newspaper in half as I looked over. “I dunno, it might not hurt to go ask.”

 

“Then it’s settled!” Luffy stood up and grabbed Usopp by the arm. “Let’s go! Show us where your friend lives!”

 

“Wha-hey wait!”

 

And then they were out the door, Henry having to forfeit his perch.

 

“Luffy! Luffy, get back here!” And there goes Nami. 

 

“Well, your captain is certainly the lively fellow!” Mayor Mornin laughed.

 

I turned to Kuina and Zoro, setting the paper down. “Perhaps we should go follow after them, to make sure they don’t get in trouble.”

 

As we left the little restaurant, we were accosted by three little midgets wielding pans for weapons. What were their names? Carrot, Pepper and Leek or something? One of them, the one with the pepper hair, pointed his pan at us, demanding, “Where did you take Captain Usopp?! We know you pirates did something to him!”

 

Kuina pointed down the road, where Kaya’s mansion sat. “Our own Captain asked Usopp if he could see this friend of his. You just missed them in fact.”

 

“Ah? Really?” All three boys lowered their pans as they looked apologetic. “Sorry about that. We’ve never seen any other pirates before so we panicked. We could take you over there to join up with them if you like.”

 

“That’d be nice, thank you!”

 

“Why don’t you all go ahead? I doubt having a known pirate with a bounty would be any help for making a deal,” I suggested, motioning for them all to go on ahead.

 

As our swordmasters gave me a glance, Sukima asked, “Are you sure? You don’t need me to discuss anything?”

 

I shook my head, placing my right hand behind my back. “Nah nothing like that. I just don’t want to give Kaya’s poor butler any problems.” Merry was going to have quite a few problems anyway, no need to add to that.

 

“I see. Well, we’ll see you afterwards with hopefully good news!”

 

As the crew and kids trekked down the street, I ducked back behind the corner of the restaurant. Making sure that there wasn’t anyone who would pry into my business around, I withdrew my shaking hand from behind my back to take out my pill bottle from my jacket pocket. A good thing about logia powers was that I didn’t need to breathe if my body was in an elemental state, and I had been in Air Form for the last few minutes to mask my breathing. But it still couldn’t stop the other problems from happening, like the shaking.

 

After popping a pill into my mouth, I gave the little container a shake. I was down to less than half of the bottle left, and I would need about three or four more pills while we were on this island. And I wasn’t sure about how long it would take to get to the Baratie, let alone the Conomi Islands. I needed these pills to keep myself relaxed, or my anxiety would cause me to have panic attacks.

 

“Shit.”

 

“Caw.”

 

Looking down, I saw Henry looking up at me from the ground.

 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine until we can get to Logue Town. There’s bound to be a place I can get something for this.”

 

“Caw.”

 

“I said it’s fine, Henry. Don’t worry.”

 

“Caw!”

 

“It’s FINE!”

 

Startled, Henry backed away from me, before flying off.

 

“It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine.”

 

I Faded into wind and let myself flow to the mansion after everyone. I figured that I at least should keep an eye on things.

 

_ <SC> _

 

Settling myself around the tree outside the mansion’s window, I saw that I had made it in time to see Usopp trying to introduce everyone to Kaya as his new crew. Which everyone denied. I noticed that Kuina and Zoro turned their heads as the leaves rustled, but neither made any other movements.

 

I turned the majority of my attention to Kaya, the lady of the mansion and Usopp’s friend. Her appearance was indeed like that of the anime’s depiction of her, but there was something that wasn’t shown in the show or manga; she had stress lines on her face, and she had slight bags under her eyes. For over a year or so, the poor girl had worried herself sick, and it was obvious that it would eventually take more of a toll on her. Looking at her, it wasn’t hard to see how Kuro’s plan for her to die without it looking like a murder had  _ some  _ merit, vile as it was.

 

But her face seemed to brighten with Usopp around, the stress evident on her face fading away as she smiled at the antics of the Straw Hats and Usopp. In all honesty, the shipper in me was busy trying to figure out a way for us to get the girl on the crew for her and Usopp’s OTP, but I smacked that idea down harshly. Looking at her, it was obvious that she was too sick to come with us, like Sukima has said. By the time she could recover enough we’d already be deep into the Grand Line, if memory serves right.

 

By the time I refocused on the crew below me, I realized that Kuro had shown up and was demanding that we leave.

 

“I don’t know  _ what  _ made you think that Miss Kaya would ever give her ship to an unruly lot like you. Whatever the case may be, you all need to leave the premises immediately. Especially you, Usopp.”

 

“Klahadore, please!” Kaya leaned out enough from the window to see Kuro/Klahadore better. The ex-pirate seemed to back down a bit, though I could see a twitch in his face as he adjusted his glasses.

 

Looking back down toward the crew, specifically at Luffy, she asked, “May I ask why you would want my ship?”

 

“Ah, we need a proper pirate ship. All we have are these two little boats that my first mate and navigator say won’t make it to the Grand Line.” Well, we never said anything about hiding the fact we were pirates. Thanks, Luffy.

 

“So you’re pirates, then. You definitely need to leave now.” Fuck you too, Black Cat.

 

Wait, that wasn’t his moniker. What was it? Kuro something something or other.

 

“Hey! What do you have against pirates, you jerk?! Pirates are cool!”

 

Sniffing, Kuro applied a look of absolute disdain and contempt to his face. “Pirates are filthy, barbaric beasts that do nothing but pillage and ravage poor defenseless villages like ours.” Turning his eyes toward Usopp, he asked, “Isn’t your father a pirate as well? I wonder how many villages he’s gone and destroyed by now.”

 

Usopp’s hands clenched, as he began to tremble in anger. “What was that about my father?!”

 

“Klahadore, stop this at once!”

 

But the man continued. “Perhaps you should lie about your father being something else, instead of admitting you’re the son of a pirate.”

 

I saw Sukima move to intercept Usopp, and had managed to at least grab him before he could go deck Kuro. 

 

“I’d never lie about that! I’m proud to call myself the son of a pirate!”

 

Kuro scoffed, sneering at the boy. “You know, I believe that it’s illegal to associate yourself with pirates. Perhaps I could report you to the local base nearby, that would certainly take care of you breaking in all the time. I could even report the whole lot of you as well, since you admitted to being pirates.”

 

Sukima kept a firm grip on Usopp as Kuina and Zoro grabbed Luffy before he could charge forward, while Nami focused on the three children. Turning away from the former pirate, she looked up to Kaya to say, “Perhaps you should have a talk to your butler about trying to provoke people into attacking him. He might end up biting off more than he can chew someday.”

 

The look on Kuro’s face turned poisonous, his hands twitching as a vein began to throb on his forehead.

 

Kaya simply sighed though, no longer looking as bright as she had moments ago. “I will have a talk with him, I can assure you that. And about your request; although you are Usopp’s friends, I don’t think I can let you have our ship. I’m sorry.”

 

Nami turned away from Usopp’s little friends, who had calmed down now, and simply waved the apology away. “Don’t worry about that. It was a long shot, after all. Besides, there are other villages on the islands here. We can just go look around for a ship.”

 

We could, but there was only one ship good enough for us.

 

“We’ll just be on our way, then. Thank you for your time.”   
  


As the girls ushered everyone off the premises, Kuro looked like he wanted to make another comment, but before he could-

 

“Caw!”

 

“Hmm?” SPLAT “Oh of all the -!”

 

Good Henry. Even Kaya had to stifle a giggle.

 

Leaving the area I noticed Kuro looking at a pocket watch, muttering about it almost being time.

 

That’s right, the Black Cat Pirates attack tomorrow. Reforming outside the mansion’s gates, I strode after the crew where they had stopped along the road with Usopp, Luffy and that Leek kid not to be found. Henry had taken to perching on Kuina as she sat on the fence.

 

Nami looked at me for a second before asking, “So, asking Usopp’s friend was a bust. You have  any other ideas?”

 

“I’d say we probably spend the night here, figure out where the other villages are and go from there.”

 

Sukima stayed silent while the others thought over it for a minute before agreeing, Zoro being the one to speak. “Guess that makes sense. We just need to wait for Luffy to come back.”

 

“I was meaning to ask about that. Where’d Boss and Usopp go?”

 

One of the kids, the carrot one, spoke up. “Captain Usopp was pretty upset, so he went off to the coast, and your captain followed him. They should be back in a little bit.”

 

“I see. And your friend, the one with the glasses?”

 

This time it was the pepper kid who spoke. “You mean Onion?” Oops, wrong veggie. “He’s always running off. Pretty soon he’ll be running back yelling about something else.

 

At that moment the kid in question was running towards us. “Pepper! Carrot! There’s some weird guy walking backwards through town!”

 

“See? He always overreacts about everything.”

 

“Like some weird guy walking backwards?”

 

And indeed, there was the man himself, moonwalking his way through the village. Jango, acting captain of the Black Cat Pirates.

 

“Who you calling weird, kid? I’m nobody suspicious, just a passing hypnotist.” Oh wow, he does sound like a beatnik.

 

Nami didn’t seem convinced, an attitude shared by Kuina and Zoro. “A random passing hypnotist? That seems pretty suspicious to me.”

 

The kids disagreed, however. “Really? Show us a trick! Please?”

 

Jango the hypnotist looked like he was considering it, before nodding. “I suppose one little trick wouldn’t hurt.”

 

As he pulled out his ring I realized something. Jango’s hypnotism was the real deal and while the others were on the side of the road, out of range for the trick, I wasn’t. By the time I finished that thought he said, “One, two, JANGO!”

 

“Shi-”

 

THUMP

 

_ <SC> _

 

“I can’t believe you got yourself hypnotized like that! You landing on your face was just perfect!”

 

“Shuddup. Id’s nod funny.”

 

When I had fallen asleep, I landed on my face and broke my nose. By the time I woke up the kids were already awake and Jango was long gone. 

 

I sat still as Zoro snapped it into place with a loud CRICK that echoed through my head.

 

“Fuck!” Blinking past the pain in my face, I gave the swordsman a thumbs up. “Thanks for that.”

 

“I’m surprised that your nose broke so easily. Are you really that weak?”

 

“It ain’t my fault all you people are all different than me! Where’s Boss?”

 

Kuina was the one who answered me. “Probably at the coast with Usopp still. Maybe we should go look for them?”

 

One of the kids, Onion, pointed down the road. “Hey, Captain Usopp’s coming this way! But where’s your captain?”

 

Looking down the road from the coast we could see Usopp running like his life depended on it. Before he could pass us Zoro caught him by the arm, stopping him dead in his tracks. 

 

“Hey Long Nose, where’s Luffy? Wasn’t he supposed to be with you?”

 

Usopp tried to catch his breath as he explained. “He-he was- there was this hypnotist and Klahadore down by the coast talking about killing Kaya and Luffy told them to stop but then he- he got put to sleep and fell down the cliff! And-and Klahadore is actually Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates!!!”

 

“WHAT?! Klahadore’s a pirate?!” I forgot the kids were still here.

 

“Wait, Kuro?” Kuina turned to me to ask, “Back in Shells Town you said that Kuro was the pirate Morgan caught, didn’t you?”

 

“Morgan and another of Kuro’s men were both hypnotized by the first mate,” I explained. “The man Usopp here saw down at the coast was definitely Captain Kuro.”

 

The long nosed boy nodded rapidly, “Yeah! And I’m sorry really I left Luffy back there but I need to go warn everyone! He’s planning on attacking them with his crew and-”

 

“And will they believe you?” 

 

That stopped Usopp cold. Everyone turned to Zoro, who hadn’t let go yet. “That guy at the restaurant said that you lie everyday about pirates coming. Will this time be any different? Will they actually believe you?”

 

“Would Kaya believe you if you try to warn her?” Sukima asked. “Kuro has worked for her family for three years now, acting as a kind butler until now. Would you be able to convince her that Klahadore is a pirate?”

 

“I-I… I know, but- but I still need to try and warn them! I need to warn Kaya at least!”

 

Nobody said anything for a bit. The three kids were scared, shaking in fear. Usopp was shaking in desperation more than fear, at this point.

 

Zoro turned to me. “Luffy’s not here, so you need to decide.” Ah, that’s right. I was the first mate. Henry took his perch on my shoulder as I began to think. “Orders?”

 

“...Sukima, can you take Usopp to the mansion?”

 

“Of course. I’ll see if I can’t help him convince Kaya.”

 

Alright. “Kuina, Zoro, Nami. You’re with me. We’ll head to the coast and wake Luffy up.” They each gave me a nod as Zoro let go of Usopp’s arm.

 

“And you three,” I addressed the kids, “need to go home. Stay safe and don’t leave until tomorrow, afternoon at the very least.”

 

They gave me a nod, and immediately ran to the village. Usopp stood there speechless.

 

“You… you’re going to help me?”

 

“I don’t see why not. You are the Boss’s friend, ain’t ya?”

 

“O-of course!”

 

“Then let’s get a move on.”

 

I passed by Sukima and told her, “Bring him to his house when you’re done.” Receiving a nod, I continued on.

 

As we made our way down to the coast with directions from Usopp, Sukima opened a gap and took the liar through it. Without Usopp punching Kuro earlier, and with Sukima’s help, maybe Usopp might get Kaya to safety. I didn’t put any hope into that idea, though; this was mostly to keep Usopp from having to deal with an angry village after his ass, which was something we didn’t need.

 

At the coast we found Luffy trying to dig his torso out of the dirt, which was understandable considering he fell off a cliff. Pulling him out wouldn’t really work since the putz was made of rubber and would just stretch, so we instead dug him out. Eventually he was able to pop himself out of the ground with a gasp.

 

“Ah! I almost died! Thanks guys- wait! Where’s that Cat Bastard?! We have to stop him!”

 

“Usopp already told us everything, and right now he’s working on warning Kaya. We need to get going, though. We’ll be meeting him at his house.”

 

“But we don’t know where it is.”

 

At that, Henry flew off and circled above us for a bit before heading off in a random direction.

 

“Follow Henry, he can guide us there.”

 

As we followed the crow, he make sure to circle back to keep from going too far ahead. By the time we made it to his house, Usopp and Sukima were already there.

 

“She, she didn’t believe me. I can guess why; between me and ‘Klahadore’, it’d be easy to think I was lying.”

 

Luffy stood in front of him, arms crossed and a tilt to his head. “So what are you going to do now?”

 

“I, I… I’ll make sure that the lie ‘The pirates are coming’ never comes true again. I’m going to go protect the village and everyone in it!”

 

Nodding, Luffy stuck a hand out. “Then we’ll help you out! Those jerks have it coming to them!”

 

Shocked, Usopp took a look around at us, as we each gave an affirmative nod. Taking Luffy’s hand, he gave a firm shake, and then we began to plan for war.


	9. Romance Dawn: Saving Syrup Village

Sukima provided us with a small table to lay a map of Syrup Village, provided by Usopp. It depicted the village and the surrounding area, including the coast. As it was his home, we had decided to let Usopp decide what to do.

 

“Alright, Kuro and that hypnotist guy said that they would land at the coast and attack the village with their crew. The hypnotist would head on to the mansion where he would then hypnotise Kaya into signing a will leaving everything to Kuro, and then he would kill her. We need to keep them away from the mansion, from the village at most. If we can keep them at the coast here,” He pointed to the spot that we found Luffy, “then we win!”

 

Sharing a look with Sukima, I spoke up. “What about the spot where we landed? What if they decide to land there?”

 

“Ah… that’s true. I was hoping to have all of us in one place so everyone could fend of the pirates. I guess we could make teams to cover both spots, but will it be alright if we split you guys up?”

 

“Even if we split up, it’d be overkill,” Nami deadpanned, “I’ve seen what these guys did to the Buggy Pirates. These Black Cats don’t stand a chance. Besides, these ports are pretty close together, so it isn’t like the other team can’t reach the other in time.”

 

Usopp looked a little bit relieved to hear that. “Okay, that’s good then. First, I need to know what you guys are good at.”

 

“Slicing.”

 

“Swordsmanship.”

 

“Stretching.”

 

“Stealing.”

 

“Rifts.”

 

“Wind.”

 

“Caw.”

 

“And I can hide.” SMACK! “Ow! Ah, I’m pretty good with a slingshot, I guess.”

 

I decided to take over the planning here. “I propose that the teams be Zoro, Kuina and Sukima covering this port,” I pointed to the one spot away from the boats, “And me, Boss and Usopp go here,” I then pointed to where I knew the Black Cat Pirates would land. “And Nami-”

 

“Will go wherever they land and take everything I can as soon as everyone on the ship is gone. Henry here will tell me where it lands.”

 

“Caw?”

 

“Right. We have a few hours until morning, so I suggest we all get some rest before heading out. Sukima, you have a phone as well, right?”

 

“Yes, good idea! Let me give you my number, and I’ll need yours.”

 

After we exchanged numbers, I explained, “One team will contact the other through either Sukima or me, and let the other team know which port the pirates land at.”

 

As everyone left to get ready, I stayed at the table thinking about what was about to happen. Back in Orange Town there weren’t any people around, but here was different; we needed to keep the Black Cats away from the village. This time there’s more of us, and Zoro’s stronger than in canon, but my mind couldn’t stop going through different scenarios about what could happen. Looking up at the crescent moon, I was reminded of what Kuro would do to Merry. Will he make it? Would Kuro actually kill him?

 

Feeling my heart begin to race, I dug for my pills again. I needed to be calm for this. I pointedly ignored the way Henry was looking at me by Fading. I needed to be calm to think. I needed to be calm. _I need to be calm._

 

_ <SC> _

 

Pepper and Carrot were huddled outside of Meshi, trying to come up with their own plan. Onion joined them a moment later after listening in on Captain Usopp’s planning session. Pepper had drawn a square in the dirt surrounded by an oblong circle. He jabbed the square with a finger as he declared, “We need to get Miss Kaya out of the mansion somehow! If Klahadore can’t find her, then he can’t kill her!”

 

“But how do we get in? Won’t Klahadore still be in there?” Carrot asked.

 

Onion added, “And how do we get her to listen to us? She won’t just believe that her caretaker is an evil pirate!”

 

Both Pepper and Carrot covered the bespectacled boy’s mouth, looking around to make sure no one had heard his yell.

 

“W-well, we are the Usopp Pirates. We, we’re just going to have to- uh, have to kidnap her!”

 

Onion and Carrot stared at Pepper in stunned silence. “...that’s a stupid idea! We’d never get past those guards with her!”

 

“Well what do you suggest?!”

 

“Hmm? What are you kids up to out here?”

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

 

Jumping in surprise, the three boys saw the mayor looking at them in puzzlement.

 

“It’s incredibly late, you know. You three should have gone to bed hours ago!”

 

Pepper stood in front of the other two, stammering, “We-we were just thinking up another p-prank to pull on Mr Sal! He threw an egg at Captain Usopp this morning!”

 

Seeing the other two boys nodding, Mayor Mornin sighed. “Now now, it was mean of Sal to throw an egg, but that doesn’t justify pulling a prank on him. Now run along, children, and go to bed.”

 

“O-okay, Mr Mornin, goodnight!”

 

Running away, they stopped when the mayor was out of sight.

 

“Guys, we’re saving Miss Kaya! And no evil pirate is going to stop us!”

 

“R-right.”

 

“Yeah!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

Morning came and as the sun rose, the Bezan Black began to drift into view of the coast. Luffy, Usopp and I had hidden ourselves in the shrubbery on the cliff overlooking the slope. I was still awake from last night, too worried over what might happen.

 

Nami had joined us with Henry perched on her shoulder.

 

“So they chose this spot, huh? It’s a good thing Sukima has all the treasure with her.”

 

Usopp gulped, his knees shaking in fear. “You- you’re gonna contact the other team, right? I mean, you did say that you were strong but these are a full crew of pirates, and we’re only three people!”

 

As I took my phone out, Luffy said, “We took on a whole crew of pirates a few days ago, and we kicked their asses! And half our crew has Devil Fruit powers! We’ll be fine this time, too!” Yes, especially since you aren’t getting lost.

 

Picking out Sukima’s contact, I put the phone to my ear as she picked up. “Hey, the Black Cats are heading toward our spot. Can you get Zoro and Kuina over here?”

 

_“Unfortunately not. Apparently either Kuro or Jango decided to add to the plan, and now a couple of long boats filled with a different pirate crew are heading toward our location as well. No sign of an actual ship though, so they must have traveled on the Black Cats’ ship before separating.”_

 

Shit. “Any idea who they are?”

 

_“Yes, actually. They’re a small time crew that Nami and I had hit before heading to Goa. Never thought we’d see them again. We’ll still take care of them, though, and meet up with you guys afterwards.”_

 

“Alright, then. Try not to traumatize them.”

 

_“No promises~”_

 

Ending the call I told our group, “There’s another group of pirates on the other coast. Once the others take care of them there then they’ll meet up with us. For now, though, we’re by ourselves.”

 

The Bezan Black was closer to the shore, and in just a few minutes would reach the it.

 

Nami chewed on her thumb in thought. “Usopp, do you have time to trap the slope?”

 

“Ah, no. I also gave most of my traps to your friend, Sukima. She said that she’d make good use of them. All I have are some caltrops and my steel balls for my slingshot.” If he used those caltrops in the slingshot, then that’d definitely do some damage.

 

“Damn. It’d be nice if we could make some barriers to block their path, but all we have here is sand.”

 

Sand. Sand, sand, lots of sand, sand for the Sand Guar-!

 

“I have an idea.”

 

Noticing my grin Nami said, “It better not be a stupid idea.”

 

“I have a stupid idea. Boss, come over here real quick.”

 

_ <SC> _

 

Lonbarg Gerome, Captain of the Bull Rush Pirates, felt that the goddess of fortune had began to smile upon him. The short, stocky man had thought that their luck had soured when their treasure hoard was stolen from right under their nose some weeks back. Then a few days ago this Jango character shows up with a proposition; help raid a village and whatever loot they find they get to keep, so long as they leave the mansion alone.

 

Course, Lonbarg didn’t plan on stopping there. The Gecko Islands had several villages on them, each one waiting for his crew to raid! Soon he’d be able to build his hoard back up, and then move on to being richer than a king!

 

As the three long boats carrying his crew touched the shore every man jumped out and gathered around him.

 

“Alright, you lads remember what that Jang’ feller said; attack the village and help him reach the mansion! Then we head off and attack ev’ry other village on these islands! So get ready!”

 

His crew gave a loud cheer as they turned toward the slope leading up into the village-

 

“Hello~!”

 

Only to halt at the sight of a young woman in a purple dress waving at them, an umbrella resting on her shoulder.

 

Lonbarg barged his way through his men, glowering at the girl. “Who the hell are you, lass? Who dares stand before the mighty Bull Rush Pirates?”

 

“Oh, so that was what you’re called. Anyway, I’m just a wandering cute damsel who happened to come across this place. You wouldn’t happen to be planning to attack this village now, would you?”

 

Standing as tall as he could, the squat captain yelled out, “And what if we are?!”

 

She only smiled as a rip in the air opened up, revealing a cannon aimed down at them!

 

“Then I’ll just have to do this~!”

 

The cannon fired, and as everyone dodged out of the way Lonbarg thought he saw a big pink ball with a clown skull on it.  

 

_ <SC> _

 

**BOOOM!!!**

 

Sukima watched as the explosion took out the long boats, but the pirates had managed to get clear out of the way before they could get caught in the blast.

 

Kuina and Zoro jumped down from the cliffside as they watched the scattered men recover.

 

“Was shooting a Buggy Ball at them really necessary? We could have taken them easily,” Zoro groused.

 

“Well, at least I cut off their escape. Now they only have one way to go.”

 

“Straight through us,” Kuina said as she drew Wado Ichimonji. Zoro only huffed as he drew Yamaoroshi and two burner swords, settling into his stance.

 

The pirates on the coast had fully recovered from the explosion, and now saw the two swordmasters.

 

“AH! C-Captain, it’s the Sword Saint and her Demon! What do we do?!”

 

Lonbarg shoved the cowering man forward in clear anger. “Just rush past them! They can’t get all of us at the same time!” Drawing a cutlass he pointed it at the slope. “Charge!!!”

 

The men rushed forward in a wave, yelling as they tried to bum rush the two swordmasters.

 

Zoro set his two burner swords behind Yamaoroshi before swinging them both down on a couple of pirates who had reached him first. “Santoryu: Tora Gari!” He then repeated the technique, catching the pirates two at a time.

 

Kuina had taken a low stance, Wado held behind her as she made sweeping slashes that curved through the air with each swing. “Ittoryu: Hebi no Odori!” She flowed through each motion straight through the crowd of enemies that had charged at her.

 

As Kuina and Zoro clashed with those pirates several more dashed past them, thinking that they could make it past the last girl. Their hopes were dashed as several rifts opened up, separating in different directions with copious amounts of steel wire threaded through them. “Rift Sign: Cat’s Cradle.” With a wave of her hand, Sukima sent every rift forward, catching those pirates in the wires as well as cutting them up as she pushed them back.

 

Down on the shore Lonbarg and those remaining could only stare as his men were getting decimated.

 

“What did that man get us into?”

 

_ <SC> _

 

Jango waded through the water lapping at the shore oh his landing spot, confused as to why his crew had stopped at the beach.

 

“What are you all doing standing around? We gotta get to the village pronto!”

 

“But Captain Jango, there’s something at the bottom of the slope!”

 

Pushing past his men, he saw what had stopped them from going forward. A large mound of sand blocking the end of the beach’s exit, with an angry human face in it and a straw hat sitting on top.

 

“Wait, isn’t that the kid who fell off the cliff yesterday? What, did he turn into a spirit or something?”

 

As though in response, the face yell out. “I am the Sand Guardian, guardian of the sand!”

 

That scaredy-cat liar from yesterday jumped down and clung to the side of the mound. “P-pirates quiver before him!”

 

“FUCK OFF!!!”

 

And then suddenly the mound of sand began to punch every pirate unfortunate enough to be within range, sending them all flying back down to the water. Then the mound began focusing on those farther away, punching them as well!

 

“What is happening?!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

“KHEH HEH HEH!!! He said it! I can’t believe I actually got him to say that, holy shit!”

 

“Caw!”

 

Nami pinched the bridge of her nose as I continued laughing at the sight of Sand!Luffy punching the everloving fuck out of everyone.

 

“He better not make a habit of saying ‘fuck’, you hear me? He already has too many other bad ones as it is.”

 

Usopp climbed back up the cliff we were hiding on, having high-tailed it as soon as Luffy began punching.

 

“That was crazy! How long can he go on like this?”

 

I watched as another cluster of pirates got decked as they tried to flee. “If I had to guess, I’d say-”

 

“One, two, Jango!”

 

“That’d be it,” I said once Luffy was sleeping in the pile of sand. “Welp, it’s my turn then. Usopp, can you hit those guys from here?”

 

“Huh? Yeah, but what if I hit you by mistake?”

 

“Then just don’t hit me!”

 

I Faded as I launched myself off the cliff, aiming for the closest pirates trying to attack Luffy. Re-emerging as I drew Almace I fired off a Chartreuse Blade at them, blowing them back as another pirate tried to swipe at me before getting shot by a steel ball.

 

I heard Jango curse from his spot on the beach over there. “Dammit! Another one?! At this rate Kuro’s going to kill us!”

 

That seemed to motivate the Black Cats into charging me en masse. I drew my fidget spinner and charged it before launching it in a controlled curve at their legs.

 

“Chartreuse Boomerang!”

 

The green blur managed to knock down half of them before they got smart enough to jump over it, though some of them got pelted by Usopp’s barrage. The last few got smacked out of the air as I swung Almace upwards, releasing another Chartreuse Blade at them. One pirate got close to my left, ready to stab his knife into my kidney. He ended up falling through my body, landing on his face.

 

“Oi, piss off! Chartreuse Stomp!”

 

Charging wind into my lower leg and foot I stomped down on his head, driving him further into the ground. Many of the pirates backed away from me at that.

 

“Shit! Did this guy eat a Devil Fruit?!”

 

“Captain, what do we do?!”

 

As I watched the pirates retreat, getting pelted all the way, I noticed Jango take out a chakram on a string.

 

“Alright now, when I say ‘One, Two, Jango’, you’ll all be super strong, able to rend even the very air itself!”

 

Oh fuck me. I’d prefer if my air didn’t get rent, thank you very much!

 

I tried to charge up a Chartreuse Hammer, but I wouldn’t be able to make it in time.

 

“One, two, Jan-GOUCH!”

 

A steel ball slammed into his fingers, forcing him to drop his chakram.

 

“Dammit!” He used his other hand to draw out another one, but before he could do anything a black blur swooped in and snatched it with a “Caw!”, further angering the hypnotist.

 

I smirked as I watched Henry fly back to Usopp’s little sniper nest, channeling more wind into my left arm.

 

“Chartreuse Gale: Wind God’s Fist!”

 

I launched a massive gale that crashed into the pirates surrounding Jango, though the man himself dodged out of the way. Many of them hit the Bezan Black’s hull while the rest landed into the sea, flailing about as they tried to keep from drowning.

 

I took a step forward as I saw Usopp dash beside me, skidding to a halt while Nami sauntered up. Henry landed on my shoulder, fumbling with the chakram he stole trying to wield it.

 

I heard a smack behind me followed by a cry of “No Gramps, no! Oh, hey guys!”

 

Jango stood in the shallows of the beach, gritting his teeth.

 

“Buchi, Sham! Get your asses down here now!”

 

As two shapes jumped off the Bezan Black, I motioned to Nami to go. As she scaled up the cliff (I had to keep my gaze forward considering she was wearing a skirt) I readied Almace as Luffy dug himself out of the mound. Usopp backed away, keeping his distance from us since otherwise he’d be in smacking distance from the fight.

 

“Get ready for round two.”

 

_ <SC> _

 

Pepper, Onion and Carrot had hidden in the bushes just inside the fence surrounding the mansion. They had snuck in while the gate guards were gone, and had been hiding for half an hour now. Though the guards hadn’t returned yet, they stayed focused on their mission.

 

Carrot asked, “Do you think we can make it inside yet?”

 

Pepper shook his head, “No, Klahadore is still in there, and we don’t know where he’d be.”

 

“Look!”

 

Shushing their friend, Pepper and Carrot followed where Onion was pointing, and saw the butler in question leaving the mansion carrying a small case.

 

“Late, they’re late. It doesn’t sound like they’re in the village, either. Damn, what is taking them so long?”

 

The man muttered as he left the premises, never noticing as the three children snuck in through the front door.

 

Inside the foyer, they realized a major dent to their plan; they didn’t know the layout of the mansion.

 

“This place is too big! How are we going to find Miss Kaya?!”

 

“Her room is on the top floor on the left side, isn’t it?”

 

“C’mon, then! We need to get her before Klahadore gets back!”

 

The boys ran up the stairs in the entrance hall, turning left and checking each room as they went. Carrot and Pepper tried a door at the far end of the hallway, and inside found Kaya’s bedroom. The young woman herself seemed to have just woken up.

 

“Huh? You two are Usopp’s friends, aren’t you? What are you doing here?”

 

“Miss Kaya, we came to get you out of here! Klahadore’s planning to kill you and take your fortune!”

 

Kaya sighed. “Not you too. Usopp already told me this lie, and getting you two to tell it to me won’t work either.”

 

“But Miss Kaya, it’s not a lie! Captain Usopp’s out there fighting a bunch of pirates right now, keeping them from reaching the village! We need to get you out of here now!”

 

“Boys, I-”

 

She was interrupted by the sound of Onion screaming from another room.

 

“Pepper, I don’t think he’s over-reacting this time.”

 

Fear and dread filled Kaya, and she followed after the two boys as they traced the sound. They found Onion in the opposite wing of the mansion, having found the body of her other servant, Merry, in the parlour room. Everything was slashed, from the ceiling down to the floor and everything in between. Onion was shaking on the opposite side of the room, tears in his eyes as he scrambled over to hide behind Kaya.

 

“M-Merry?”

 

“Oh man, is he-?”

 

A weak groan came from the fallen man, causing Kaya to rush over to his side, ignoring the blood on the floor.

 

“Merry! Don’t move, I’ll send for help! Klahadore-”

 

“Klahadore was the one to do this to me.”

 

“N… no…”

 

She was shaken. She realized that Usopp was telling her the truth last night.

 

_Kaya jumped in surprise as her bedroom window slammed open, and Usopp fell onto the floor in a floppy heap. One of his new friends, the blond one in the purple and white clothes, followed after him inside._

 

_“Usopp!? What are you doing here?!”_

 

_Jumping up, Usopp hurried over and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Kaya, listen to me; Klahadore’s a pirate, and he’s after your money!”_

 

_“Klahadore- what are you talking about?”_

 

_“His real name is Kuro of a Thousand Plans, and he’s been planning to take everything you have with a hypnotist!”_

 

_“Kuro? Usopp, Kuro was executed three years ago, everyone heard about that.”_

 

_“And three years ago your father found Klahadore after that! He lied to you and your family for three years! He faked his death because he got tired of being a pirate!”_

 

_His friend tried to interrupt. “Usopp, this may not be the best-”_

 

_Kaya shook his hands off of her. “Usopp, Klahadore’s been nothing but a kind man all these years. Are you sure you aren’t just trying to hurt him by spreading these lies about him? I know what he said earlier today had hurt your feelings, but-”_

 

_Grabbing her hand, Usopp begged her, “Kaya, I swear I’m not lying! You need to get out of here!”_

 

_SLAP! Usopp let go to rub his cheek as Kaya backed away. “Usopp, this is going too far this time. You can’t start lying about someone because they hurt you first! I-I think you need to go. Until you stop this lie then I don’t want you coming here again!”_

 

_“B-but Kaya…”_

 

 _His friend took him by the shoulder and led him into a_ hole in the air?!

 

_“Usopp, we need to move on now.”_

 

_“But- but-”_

 

_They disappeared into the hole, and as it closed Kaya brushed away a tear._

 

This time, she didn’t brush away the tear that fell from her eye. “I’m sorry, Usopp. I’m so sorry!”

 

“M-Miss Kaya, he’s… he’s after treasure. You need to give him what he w-wants, then he’ll leave the vill- the village…” Merry fell silent after that, his head dropping back down.

 

Kaya didn’t move for a but until Carrot and Pepper took her by the hands. “Miss Kaya, we need to get out of here! Klahadore left, so now’s the perfect time to leave!”

 

“Which way?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Which way did Klahadore go?”

 

“HUH?!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

I watched as the big and skinny duo landed next to Jango, before dropping down to their knees.

 

“Captain, we can’t go up against these guys! We’ll get creamed!”

 

“Please don’t make us go, Captain!”

 

Wow, if I didn’t know how these two guys really were, then I’d have been fooled myself. These two were really good actors.

 

“Buchi, Sham, just get up there and fight them! We’re losing time here!”

 

Gulping, the two of them turned and stood there looking at us for a bit.

 

“Sham, you go first!”

 

“What?! But- but- aw man!”

 

Sham, the smaller of the two, began to run up the beach comically swinging his claws around while screaming in ‘fright’.

 

Luffy asked, “These are their best guys? They seem like scaredy-cats.”

 

I responded by firing a Chartreuse Hammer at Sham, hoping to catch him off guard. The hunched ‘cat’ man sped out of the way of it, revealing his true colors.

 

“Tch. Damn, that was too close! Buchi!”

 

“Coming, Sham! No one’s ever beaten the Nyaban Brothers!”

 

The larger man jumped the span of the beach to join his companion. As Henry flew off I turned back to Luffy and asked, “Which one you want?”

 

“Um, I’ll take the big one!”

 

“Fine with me.”

 

With that I launched another Blade at them, separating the two from each other. Luffy launched himself at the bigger man while I flew toward the smaller one, Almace raised above my head and covered in wind.

 

“Chartreuse Lion’s Stomp!”

 

Swinging the Black Blade down, I missed Sham as he jumped to the side. Almace crashed into the ground as the cat man rushed up to me.

 

“Cat Scratch!”

 

Letting each swipe pass through me, I charged wind into my left hand and jabbed at his head, only for him to back out of the way. The speedy little bastard was shocked that none of his attacks had worked.

 

Our fight was interrupted by a cry of “Gum Gum Bazooka!” and a flying Buchi crashing into the cliff wall, leaving a large imprint of his body as he slid down the wall.

 

“Buchi!” Turning his attention back to me Sham began to back away, real fear in his eyes. He never saw the spinner flying at his head, knocking him off balance. Catching it in my left hand I began to spin it faster, more wind charging it as thin ‘blades’ formed on it. Swinging it, I dragged it across his chest.

 

“Chartreuse Buzzsaw!”

 

I mostly heard his shirt ripping, but a spray of blood escaped from the gash. I underestimated how bad this guy’s trick was, but at least I still got him.

 

Watching him go down, I turned to look down the beach before hearing a shuffle behind me.

 

“Cat Snatch!”

 

In all honesty, what happened next was instinct; it was like I took a step before Sham could reach Almace, and suddenly reappeared behind him. After realizing what I did, I recovered and brought down Almace on top of Sham, cutting him across the back and taking him out of the battle.

 

Back down on the beach the Black Cats were reeling in shock, and some despair.

 

“They just beat the Nyaban Brothers so easily!”

 

“If we can’t get to the village, then Kuro will kill us!”

 

“We can’t get past these monsters! We’re gonna die!”

 

“Wait, what about the other team? They must have made it to the village, fight?”

 

Whatever hope they felt at that vanished as every pirate paled. Turning back to the to the slope (getting dizzy with all this turning around) I saw Kuro standing there, a look of disdain and disappointment on his face. I also saw the case he was carrying.

 

“Jango, you’re behind schedule. It’s past dawn and the village hasn’t been touched yet. What are you all doing, playing around with these children?”

 

Jango muttered something about the other team failing as well, before saying out loud, “We haven’t been able to get past these kids! They ate Devil Fruits or something!”

 

I felt my eye twitch. “Excuse me, I’m an adult ya jackasses.”

 

Ignoring me, Kuro adjusted his glasses as he stared down at us. “You, you’re that ‘phantom’ character from the bounties. Usopp’s here as well, though that’s no surprise I suppose.” Looking toward Luffy he added, “ And you’re supposed to be dead.”

 

“Eh, I’ve fallen off of bigger cliffs before. It’d take more than that to even hurt me!”

 

“I see.” Looking around the beach, he unzipped his case and began to put on his clawed gloves. “That you were able to take on the entirety of my old crew speaks a lot about how strong you two are. Jango.”

 

“Grk!” The hypnotist jerked in surprise, before answering. “Y-yes Captain Kuro?”

 

“Get to the mansion. I want you to be finished with the girl by the time I return.”

 

Jango took a few steps out of the water before a caltrop came flying by his face, freezing him in his tracks. He looked to the source and found our eventual sniper loading another one into his slingshot. Usopp’s grip on his weapon was steady even as his knees began to shake.

 

“You take one more step and the next one won’t miss!”

 

Wow. “Holy shit, dood.”

 

“Hmph, so the coward has some spine after all. Let’s rip it out then, shall we?”

 

Kuro took a step, and then stopped as the rustling of leaves drew his attention from behind. “Kaya?”

 

“What?!”

 

As Usopp scrambled up the slope to see, I flew up enough to see Kaya exit the little forest path with Pepper and Onion hiding behind a couple of trees. Figures they’d be here anyway, though I wondered where Carrot was.

 

“So it’s true. You really are the pirate Kuro.”

 

“I haven’t called myself a pirate in three years but yes, I was indeed Kuro of a Thousand Plans.”

 

“Kaya!” Usopp skidded to a stop, “What are you doing here?! You need to run away!”

 

Kaya glanced at Usopp, a sorrowful look in her eyes. “Usopp, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” She turned back to Kuro, hardening her gaze. “Kuro, it’s money that you want, right? Treasure? I’ll give you everything I have if you leave this island and never return.”

 

Kuro adjusted his glasses as he explained, “It’s not just fortune that I’m after, _Miss Kaya,_ but a peaceful life. A peaceful life that I have spent three long years crafting here in this village. These last three years have been my last plan; you, your parents, the Black Cats, all of it. Though I admit I hadn’t foreseen these troublemakers intervening. Now all I need is for you to sign me into your will and die.”

 

“Kaya, run!”

 

CLICK!

 

Everyone was surprised as Kaya pulled out a pistol, hesitantly aiming it at Kuro.

 

“K-Kaya?”

 

Kuro stared down the barrel of the flintlock pointed in his face. “You’ve become stronger. Do you remember all those times I’ve followed you around the towns? How I helped you with your shopping? Do you remember how I comforted you after your parents died?” The pistol began to shake a little. “Every silly little thing that I’ve done for you in the last three years, were all for this. For your death today-”

 

_BANG!!!_

 

Everyone ducked as Kaya actually fired the gun, though the bullet grazed Kuro as he dodged out of the way. Hell, the bullet nearly clipped me as it whizzed by! Everyone looked at Kaya in a new light, Kuro especially.

 

“Very well. I’ll just take care of this myself then.”

 

Reaching out for Kaya, Kuro didn’t see a rubber hand grab at his shoulder and yank him backwards down the slope.

 

“Hey, Kuro! How ‘bout you fight me instead!”

 

Standing back up, Kuro glared at Luffy. His glasses had slid off in his tumble down the slope.

 

“Fine then. Jango, go take care of the girl!”

 

This time, Jango took off running up the slope. A shot from Usopp caught him in the shoulder, though he still kept going. Pepper and Onion grabbed Kaya by the hands and dragged her away. As Jango followed after them, Usopp gave chase after the hypnotist.

 

“Graaah!”

 

Huh, It seemed that Buchi wasn’t as beaten as I thought. He lunged at Usopp trying to keep him from following. Remembering that new trick I pulled with Sham, I ‘stepped’ in front of Buchi and smashed a wind charged kick at his head.

 

“Chartreuse Crescent!”

 

The kick and the blast of wind knocked the big fucker off to the side, right back into the cliff. My vision began to waver for a second before I shook it off. I couldn’t stop here, not just yet. I still ended up stumbling out of the air, landing roughly on my feet. I tried to balance myself on the cliffside, but my legs buckled.

 

“Fuck, not now. Can’t stop here!”

 

“Caw!”

 

Looking up I saw Henry looping around, carrying the chakram with his feet.

 

“Go after them, make sure that Kaya remains safe!”

 

“Caw!”

 

As Henry flew off into the forest I turned back to the beach. Luffy had just dodged another swipe from Kuro before getting kicked upside his head. The Black Cats began cheering at that.

 

“Yeah! Go, Captain Kuro!”

 

“Do not call me that! I gave up being a pirate, so don’t call me captain!”

 

Luffy took that moment to ask, “Why would you give up being a pirate?”

 

“Because I grew tired of it. I got fed up with being chased by the Marines! Each victory brought more fame, but more and more Marines would end up showing up! I want peace! I want peace of mind! I deserve a peaceful life! And you and your friends are all in the way!!!”

 

He stabbed at Luffy at that, but Luffy grabbed a rock and blocked the bladed glove, breaking the blades off in the process.

 

“If you didn’t want a reputation, then you shouldn’t have been a pirate in the first place! If you’d just give up like that, then your dream wasn’t strong enough!”

 

Barely acknowledging his broken weapon, Kuro asked, “What use is a dream to a pirate?”

 

“I’m going to be the King of the Pirates! That’s _my_ dream, and I won’t give up on it!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

“This is bad! This is so bad! We need to keep going!”

 

“But Miss Kaya can’t keep going! Look at her!”

 

Pepper and Onion had hidden under a fallen tree with Kaya, whose illness had flared up during their escape. She tried to motion for the boys to keep going.

 

“Please, you- you need to go. H-head back to the village!”

 

Pepper shook his head, “We can’t do that! We wouldn’t be able to call ourselves Usopp’s friends if something happened to you!”

 

Kaya would have replied, but they all ducked as another chakram flew through the air, cutting down several trees.

 

“It’s no use hiding! I’ll cut this whole forest down if I have to!”

 

They hid deeper in the little bit of cover they had as Jango drew closer. He stopped right in front of their spot, a chakram on a string out and ready.

 

“Look little lady, I’ll make you a promise. Come out now and write the will, and I’ll leave these kids alone. Sound good to you?”

 

“...I refuse. Even if you spare them, then Kuro would just take care of them himself.”

 

Sighing, Jango wondered if he made a mistake to even follow Kuro’s plan in the first place. “Have it your way, then. When I say ‘one, two, Jango’, you will come out and write a will leaving everything you own to Klahadore.”

 

Kaya said nothing, as she shuffled the boys behind her.

 

“One, two, Ja-AHHHHH!!! AGAIN?!”

 

His already injured hand had been slashed, forcing him to drop his chakram. He caught sight of a crow with his stolen chakram flying around, a streak of blood decorating the bladed ring.

 

A sudden burst of pain exploded on the back of his head, sending him stumbling to the ground. As he turned around Usopp jumped down from the tree as he held another steel ball in his slingshot, pulled tight and aimed at his head.

 

“One two USOPP STEEL STAR!!!”

 

Releasing the ball, it slammed right between Jango’s eyes, knocking the man unconscious as he fell back. Making sure that the hypnotist wasn’t getting up anytime soon, Usopp rushed over to Kaya’s hiding spot and helped her and the boys out. Henry landed on Jango’s body, planning on looting him.

 

“Usopp, you came to save us?”

 

“Of course! There was no way the brave Captain Usopp was going to let you get hurt! Especially after your show of bravery, that was something else!”

 

“Ah, I was so angry at Kla- at Kuro that I fired without really thinking. Usopp, I’m so sorry about last night.”

 

“That’s okay, I’m just glad that you’re safe.” He turned to his young friends and said, “You two were amazing as well! You did a great job at keeping Kaya safe. But where’s Carrot?”

 

“He went to go get help for Merry, who got hurt by Kuro last night.”

 

Kaya asked, “Usopp, what about Kuro?”

 

“Don’t worry, I know that Luffy will take care of him!”

 

He then caught sight of the crow trying to remove Jango’s jacket.

 

“Isn’t that too much?”

 

“Caw!”

 

_ <SC> _

 

Down on the beach the Black Cats began to cheer for their former captain.

 

“C’mon, Captain!”

 

“You can do it!”

 

“Kill that shrimp!”

 

“QUIET!!!”

 

I watched as Kuro began to ignore his crew. “In order for my old name to be wiped away, my plan must succeed, and everything that has a tie to that name needs to disappear as well. Including my old crew.”

 

Every member of the Black Cats paled as the implications sank in. Luffy especially looked livid.

 

“You’d even kill your own crew? How can you even think about doing that?!”

 

Kuro raised his hand to adjust his glasses, only to find that they had fallen off. “In any pirate crew, everyone below the captain is only a pawn for them, and must follow every order. No matter the sacrifices they must make.

 

“And for my plan to work, they must all sacrifice themselves.”

 

Taking a step back, he spread his arms out wide, one foot in front of the other as he lowered his head. His old crew began to scramble for the Bezan Black, hoping to escape Kuro’s ultimate technique. I thought about interrupting his attack for a second but the bastard vanished, disappearing into his half-assed Shave knock-off.

 

“Huh? Where’d he go?”

 

As Luffy looked around for him I noticed Nami on the deck of the Bezan Black carrying her stolen loot.

 

“Nami! Get down!”

 

I was thankful that she followed my order, because at that moment blood began to fly.

 

“AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!”

 

We all stared in horror as the Black Cats were getting slashed again and again, and even more slashes gouging themselves into the cliff walls and the beach.

 

SHNICK!!!

 

“FUCK!”

 

“Crowe!!!”

 

I fell to the ground as I realized I was no longer in an elemental state, emphasized by the three long gashes in my side. Shifting to Air Form to avoid any more injuries, I tried to track where Kuro was, but the asshole was too fast for me to find.

 

“GRH!!!”

 

Luffy got caught by the bastard as well, taking a hit to his arm, but he managed to grab Kuro and slammed him into the ground.

 

“Enough of that, asshole! You hurt my friend!”

 

As Kuro staggered to his feet in a daze, Luffy grabbed him by the arms and pinned them to his side, wrapping his legs around his torso to keep him from using his claws.

 

“My plan… my plan can’t fail… it can’t!”

 

Luffy bashed his head into Kuro’s with a cry of, “Shut up!”

 

The Black Cats, what members there were still standing, watched in shock before beginning to cheer for Luffy. That lasted for all of a few seconds before Luffy threw his head back at them.

 

“You all be quiet! Stop cheering for me you bastards!”

 

“Yessir.”

 

And with that, Luffy performed his finisher on Kuro.

 

“Gum Gum BELL!!!”

 

CRACK!!!

 

Kuro’s head snapped back, fully unconscious. Luffy unwrapped himself from him, hefting the limp bastard over his shoulder. The Black Cats looked pretty damned amazed at the defeat of their former captain.

 

“How… how’d you beat him?!”

 

“I’d never lose to someone who’d leave the sea behind. A pirate only does that when he dies.”

 

With that he threw Kuro at the pirates, yelling, “Take him away and don’t ever come back, ya hear me?!”

 

Watching the pirates running away to their ship, which Nami had vacated, I noticed that I was swaying.

 

Ah, right. My side. Catch me, sand.

 

TWUMP

 

_ <SC> _

 

I gained consciousness sometime the next day in Kaya’s mansion, with my side stitched up. It wasn’t until the day after that I was let loose and allowed to move. I had to stay in Air Form to keep myself from stretching the stitches.

 

During the time the crew were waiting on me, I found out that Luffy had managed to recruit Usopp, so he was around a lot. Merry had survived the attack as well, though he was still in bed. The second team had taken care of the other pirates easily, but destroyed their way off the island. Mornin, who had found out what had happened from Carrot, had notified the Marine base of the pirates and they were taken away pretty quickly. Turns out there was a small base here on one of the Gecko Islands. They even happened upon the Bezan Black, though they neglected to let it be publically known that Kuro was still alive. Makes sense, really.

 

So at the moment we were resting in the parlour room chatting with Kaya. These last two days she was looking better than she had when we first saw her. Zoro was napping on one of the couches while Sukima and Kuina were chatting. I sat down in a chair with Henry, who was fiddling with his new chakram trying to hold it in his wing, while I was sipping away with my drink. A glorious drink that I hadn’t had in awhile. I sighed as the familiar ‘burn’ slid down my throat.

 

I also may be high on painkillers, but I wasn’t quite sure.

 

“Crowe, is it really necessary for you to wear that damn jacket?”

 

At Nami’s question I looked down at my new jacket, or rather, Jango’s old one. I even had the hat, though I wasn’t wearing it.

 

“I had it emptied and cleaned. And once I get the chance I’m gonna get this thing dyed black.”

 

“Whatever. What are you drinking, anyway?”

 

I neglected to answer as I took another sip. The door to the parlour opened, and Kaya’s chef walked in to let her know that they were suddenly out of teriyaki sauce.

 

At Nami’s pointed look I just turned away.

 

“That explains why there were so many teriyaki bottles in your stash back then.”

 

“...shut up.”

 

“Caw.”

 

“Oi. Don’t judge me, featherbutt.”

 

Meanwhile, Luffy was talking to Kaya about an important matter.

 

“So you’re giving us a ship? Thanks!”

 

Kaya smiled, saying, “Of course! After all that you did for our village, it’s the least that we can do for you. It’s being readied for you as we speak, and Merry and I can show it to you later today.”

 

“Yes! We have a ship now! Wait, we need a flag! I need some paint!”

 

As he rushed off, Usopp took his spot so he could talk to Kaya. “So, since I’m going to join Luffy’s crew, I won’t be able to come visit you for a while. You sure that you’ll be alright?”

 

“Of course, Usopp. And I’ll be here waiting for you to return.”

 

“Eh heh, right! Just you watch, I’ll become a brave man of the sea by the time I come home to you!”

 

“I can’t wait, Usopp. And I’ll become a doctor and treat any wounds you get when you come back.”

 

Nami made a quiet gagging sound at that, causing me to chuckle.

 

Suddenly the parlour door slammed open, and Usopp’s friends rushed inside, followed by a curious Luffy.

 

“Miss Kaya! Usopp! There’s a huge problem!”

 

“Onion’s not over-reacting this time! There’s a bunch of Marines in the village talking to Mr Mornin!”

 

“What?” Nami stood up, “What are the Marines doing here?”

 

“Oh shit, they didn’t find out about me being here, did they?”

 

“Dammit, Crowe! Why’d you have to be a terrible thief?!”

 

“Hey! I still got away with the stuff before you took it! And I want my teriyaki sauce back!”

 

Onion interrupted us, yelling, “They said that they were going to take Miss Kaya in for harboring criminals!”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

Kaya, the poor dear, nearly fainted in her seat. Usopp looked ready to pop a blood vessel.

 

“What do you mean ‘harboring criminals’? No one in the village cared about these guys being around, and they haven’t even done anything other than Crowe! And he’s the only one with a bounty here!”

 

“Kuro had one.”

 

We turned to Nami. “Kuro had a bounty, and even though he was supposed to be dead Kaya’s family took him in. Could he have…?”

 

“Could he have let that little fact slip? Seems likely.” Zoro, awake now, sat up and said, “The guy probably told the Marines where he’d been hiding for all these years, as an act of petty revenge.”

 

“But-but they can’t take her in! She’s innocent! She didn’t do anything!”

 

“Some Marines might not see it that way,” Sukima suggested. “They may be followers of the doctrine ‘Absolute Justice’. Criminal by association.”

 

Kaya whispered, “If I’m taken in, then my dream to be a doctor…”

 

Shit! I tried to think of what had changed to make this happen. Was it the second pirate crew that showed up? If the Marines weren’t called in to take them in, then they wouldn’t have come across the Black Cats. A look at Sukima showed me that she had come to the same conclusion, though she seemed to be horrified by that idea.

 

“Come with us!”

 

Eh?

 

Usopp had a pleading look in his eyes as he explained. “If you come with us, then you can be our doctor, and you won’t be taken away by the Marines! We can do that!” He turned to Luffy, pleading, “We can do that, right? Please?”

 

Luffy crossed his arms, head tilting as he thought.

 

“Okay.”

 

_ <SC> _

 

We gathered at the shore where our new ship rested. The _Going Merry_ gently rocked in the sea as we boarded. Seeing it in the story was one thing, but in person; I couldn’t describe what I was feeling seeing her, being on her. I patted the mast as I took a look around. Luffy bounded up next to me, excitement leaking off of him.

 

“Bet this is better than reading it in that story, isn’t it?”

 

“Yeah. So much better.”

 

On the beach I saw Kaya and Merry saying their goodbyes.

 

“I’m sorry for leaving like this, Merry, but with the Marines looking for me…”

 

“Don’t worry, Miss Kaya. We all understand, and we’ll be keeping you in our prayers.”

 

Giving him one last hug, Kaya made her way up the ramp. As she was the last one to board, Zoro and Usopp pulled up the ramp.

 

Soon, we had the anchor raised and the sails unfurled. Luffy turned to me and asked, “Can you get us moving?”

 

I smirked, before Stepping up to the Crow’s Nest. From up there, I raised my hand and swept it forward. A sudden wind filled the sails and began to carry us off. I pulled out my phone and let it play the Wind Waker theme, feeling it appropriate for the occasion.

 

Below me, Kaya and Usopp waved goodbye to Merry and the former Usopp Pirates. After we had sailed off for a bit Kaya, who had brightened back up in spite of what had happened, showed everyone to their cabins; the men through the hatch next to the mast and the women through the aft storage room. I stayed up in the Nest with Henry while Sukima had disappeared into her gap the moment we set sail.

 

I leaned on the edge of the Crow’s Nest, thinking about what had happened. Don’t get me wrong, I’m kind of glad that Kaya’s joining us, hell my inner shipper was already devising plans, but it could have been under better circumstances.

 

And considering the look on Sukima’s face earlier… we’ll need to have a talk with her when she reappears.

 

I watched as Luffy came racing back up before going to check out the helm. Helm, slash meeting room, slash kitchen, slash lounge; I wondered what made Merry think that was a good idea.

 

As the others came back out to explore our new home, I said to Henry, “I never did apologize for snapping at you, did I?”

 

“Caw.”

 

“Didn’t think so. I’m really sorry about that, you know.”

 

“Caw.” Henry nodded, as though saying ‘You should be!’

 

I just rubbed his head, chuckling as he waved a wing at me to stop.

 

“So who do you think will also join our crew?”

 

“Caw!”

 

“Kheh heh heh. Yeah, probably.”

 

Up in the Crowe’s Nest I directed the wind, pushing us toward our next adventure.


End file.
